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 April 17 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

[Colin R]

I have just been pointed in this direction for Lynton and Barnstaple Transfers for 16mm scale, so it might be worth dropping them an email to ask about Donegal transfers

https://www.endonvalley.com/

 

[Maitland]

It's only numbers you need? PMB's photos give you 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 and 8, so copying those as images, correcting for perspective (only for a couple), and hamming 7 and 9 should give you something even a connoisseur couldn't argue with. And is that coach 58 or 88? 

[Andy Cundick]

Too be honest for 4mm i've always used the crests and numbers off the HMRS LMS constituents sheet S&D crests if remember right with LTSR for Castlederg when you get down to 4mm its just colouered blobs after all,its the same with North British crests they look fine on my Lynton and Rheidol stock.Andy