With the discussions about vinyl masking I’d like to ask anyone out there if they have seen the old pounce patterns used by an old-timer. I’m interested if this craft still exists in the preservation realm. And if anyone has firsthand knowledge, maybe photos/film of the original (pre-1940?) process.
What I am thinking of were made of thin brass or bronze foil and meant to be cleaned and re-used. We at the IRM have some old things like this around but I don’t know if they are original. We do get a lot of off hand donations from collectors.
The one I have seen a photo of in use was an old car shop photo and you could see a frame with removable square inserts. Each could be a number or letter. I imagine a shop would also have the railroad herald etc on hand. Pounce (blot) paint on, remove the pattern, and then hand paint over is how I guess this process went.

I've done it, but with heavy kraft paper patterns. The lettering is penciled onto the paper, the outlines of the letters are perforated, the paper hung on the equipment, and a thin cloth bag of chalk dust is bounced against the perforations such that the dust goes through the bag, perforations,and leaves a dotted chalk line on the surface. After removing the paper, you then pencil in the letters outlines (connect-the-dots) and paint inside the lines.

dave

I have traced original letters onto velum and used a pounce tool (looks like a clock gear) to perforate the velum. Then sanded the back side with very fine sandpaper to remove the paper that has been pushed out of the velum to prevent holes closing when bouncing a pounce bag against the pattern. Blue chalk powder is available at Home Depot. Blue powder is good for almost any color surface.

These patterns last for an amazingly long time if treated gently.

I have seen pounce patterns on shim brass. Rather than chalk powder, they were used to spray the pattern onto a surface for later hand painting. A quick soak in solvent removed paint on the pattern. They would have required a lot of labor to hand punch all those holes in brass. The holes were larger and spaced farther apart than produced by a pounce wheel.

Today self adhesive vinyl stencils cut with a computer are fairly cheap and have made all of these techniques obsolete.

OERM had a lettering specialist apply the road name and numbers to PE 717 (and other cars) a few years ago using the "old school" pounce method.

I made my own paper pounce patterns for CHESAPEAKE & OHIO 614, back in the summer of '96, from tracings I made of lettering of the engines at the B&O Museum.

I used these patterns to letter the 614 with One-Shot Imitation Gold lettering paint.

I still have those patterns, if Ross ever wants to put her back again.

When working for the Santa Fe in the 70s at Argentine, Kansas paper patterns were used, with holes punched and a bag filled woth chalk. Then the painter would come back with 1/4" wide masking tape to go around the curves of the nose emblem on locomotives for example. If the original stencil was visible through the paint no pattern was necessary. Later in my stay full size numbers were available made from masking tape material which really speeded up that process. Tom Birkett, Bartlesville, OK

The Santa Fe use of full-size stencil prints go back at least to 1915. The California State RR Museum has a number the original drawings for these including the passenger letter-board "Santa Fe' and various freight car lettering and numbers. The Museum's on-line index of technical drawings lists these and also some from the Southern Pacific. Also it has placement diagrams for lettering from both railroads. Copies can be acquired; if it has been copied in recent years copies come quicker as the reproduction firm has a digital file.

If you're interested in "Pullman" and the Pullman alphabet for car names, the Newberry Library has these scanned and copies are available.

Typically, for lettering and numbers, if a pounce pattern was used, the figure would then be painted by hand using a sign-painter's long handled style brush.

I have seem die-cut, self-adhesive masks that were made to letter the passenger "Santa Fe." Once applied spraying painting could be done. These would have dated from the 1960s. These were made by a firm named Demp-Nock in Michigan.

The SPCRR has a member who letters cars using paper ponce patterns and chalk. It requires both skill and time, but is preserving skills as well.

Randy

At the RMNE we have used pounce patterns for many of our restoration jobs.

The latest example was on Al P.'s CV caboose in which he used the process for all the lettering and the herald as well.

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Zog
DFS mp 9 Hudson division