CDRJC

[16miller]

What font did the CDRJC use for its numbers? 

[Horsetan]

On 11/4/2026 at 2:03 AM, 16miller said:

What font did the CDRJC use for its numbers? 

Painted numbers? Or the ones cast on locomotive numberplates?

Edited Friday at 10:49 by Horsetan

[16miller]

On 17/4/2026 at 11:49 AM, Horsetan said:

Painted numbers? Or the ones cast on locomotive numberplates?

The painted numbers on coaches and railbuses. 

[jhb171achill]

I thought they were transfers?

[Mol_PMB]

This photo from Ernie shows a couple of numbers quite close up. They seem to be a fancy serif font with elaborate shading in two colours and directions, maybe with highlights in a third colour. Not something you're likely to find as a standard computer font. 

Ernie's CDR album has plenty of colour photos too, none quite so clear for the numbers but these are pretty good:

 

 

 

 

[16miller]

I know I won't find that font on a PC. It's to aid getting transfers made. 

[Mol_PMB]

I'm sorry that my contribution was unhelpful.

[Colonel]

Fairly sure numbers on wagons were hand painted. When you compare pictures there can be quite a few subtle variations.

 For other stock, have a look at the Fox Transfers website. They may well have something close and remember seeing a BR Mark 1 coach being restored on the Kent & East Sussex at Tenterden and they were using Fox Transfers too!

[Northroader]

That style looks like the kind of job you’d get on a tramcar

[Flying Snail]

I think you're hoping for a bit too much here in terms of downloadable fonts – for a lot of those older liveries, there simply isn’t a “ready-made” font in the modern sense.

That’s why the examples shared above by Mol_PMB are very useful – they’re exactly the kind of reference you need if you’re trying to recreate numerals accurately, even if it means a bit of drawing or tweaking yourself. Probably the only way to really capture the look properly to be fair.

[jhb171achill]

These in the pics are very definitely transfers, not painted on. They are a quite unique font, so would have to be specially made. I think the number on the Blessington tramcar (3) in Cultra is still the original one and might help to measure / scan / photograph it.

[Colin R]

try these 

http://www.drytransfershop.co.uk/index.html