Wilmington, Del is my hometown and was home to Jackson and Sharp, builders of many railroad cars in the 1800s. In my collection I have an 1871 Jackson and Sharp promotional booklet and for me, the most fascinating thing in the booklet is the list of trades employed to build railcars. Some of the trades are all but vanished. Does anyone know of a professional chaser, plush maker, or glue maker? The stories of these trades of the past would make for an interesting story. If anyone would like a copy of the booklet let me know and I will email you a pdf.

Note which items were manufactured, which were 'furnished', and which were made (lamps and stoves, notably). I believe 'trimmings' refers to the specialized lubrication arrangements for plain-bearing axleboxes.

The great vanished (no pun intended) trade that deserves more attention is that 'varnisher'. Putting a finish on a railroad car of that era involved a number of steps and techniques that would be inconceivable today... for a result that would only last a limited time before having to be done all over again.

I do confess that I'm fascinated by the existence of 'fresco painting' on railroad cars at all!

Interesting. By definition, fresco implies a plaster surface to paint on. Was plaster ever used in passenger car interiors? I wouldn't imagine typical lath and plaster construction or even applied plaster decoration (moldings, rosettes, etc.) tolerating movement and vibration very well.

-Philip Marshall

I believe a Chaser was what they called Engraver.

I think 'chaser' is short for 'woodchaser', who would be able to make carved trim. I note that many current artisans calling themselves that today also work in brass and other metals, although I don't know whether they do repousse trim.

I believe in this case a fresco painter would be the one who would paint a detailed scene on the exterior and interior walls or ceiling of the car vs a regular painter.
Fred Heilich

I presume that in the case of fresco painters they are the folks painting these sort of things. I can't imagine that there were enough advertising cars being built but perhaps there were.

Tom, by definition 'fresco' means painting on 'fresh' plaster.

Those advertising cars were likely pasted-on "bills" or what we'd call posters. As in the signs "post no bills".

Normally on walls and ceilings. I suspect the term expanded to include those who applied decorative art to walls or ceilings of any material.

In metalworking, engraving is done by removing metal from the surface (such as with a grinder), while chased and repousse designs are made by moving metal with a punch without removing any metal from the piece. Chasing is done on the face of a piece, while repousse is done by pushing from behind the piece, creating a raised design.

I don't think true chasing or repousse would work very well with wood, carving would probably be a much better choice.