Wagon destination boards

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ge_rik
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Wagon destination boards

Post by ge_rik » Wed Jun 08, 2016 8:50 am

Some of you may be aware that freight operations are important on my railway. With around 60 goods wagons and my freight management computer program, I can run fairly interesting and varied freight movements (though probably somewhat excessive for a light railway in the 1930s). However, trying to consult a freight manifest on my clipboard, while holding a transmitter and a shunter's pole was getting a bit onerous. I tried adding little self adhesive labels to each wagon showing their destinations but it looked like they had developed the early stages of measles.
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A wargaming friend suggested magnets and 'blackboards' mounted on metal sheet. So I've given it a try.

A hundred 8x3x1mm magnets were bought via eBay (for £5.00) and mounted in various places on my wagons.
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The destination boards were created in Word using downloaded images of blackboard backgrounds and chalky fonts and then printed out on to matt vinyl self adhesive sheet. This was then stuck to a piece of tinplate from an old can found in the garage.
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The individual boards were then cut out with a pair of scissors
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I can now add and remove the destination boards quickly and easily.
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It's early days. I've put the boards on wagon solebars which makes them a but difficult to see (unless I lie down on the grass) - so I may experiment with larger boards in more accessible positions - but at least I've shown the principle works

For more detailed info see my blog post:
http://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2016/06 ... or-my.html

Rik
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SimonWood
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Post by SimonWood » Wed Jun 08, 2016 10:10 am

This is a brilliant idea - and I think it looks great!

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philipy
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Post by philipy » Wed Jun 08, 2016 10:36 am

Yet another great idea from Peckfortonshire.
Is there no limit to your ingenuity, Rik?!!
Philip

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ge_rik
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Post by ge_rik » Wed Jun 08, 2016 11:33 am

philipy:118410 wrote:Yet another great idea from Peckfortonshire.
Is there no limit to your ingenuity, Rik?!!
Can't really take credit - it was my wargaming mate's idea. Wargamers always seem to have tons of neat ideas.

Rik
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Peter Butler
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Post by Peter Butler » Wed Jun 08, 2016 11:57 am

Simple but effective, particularly with the lettering looking like various handwriting styles, nice touch.
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?

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Post by ge_rik » Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:01 pm

Peter Butler:118412 wrote:Simple but effective, particularly with the lettering looking like various handwriting styles, nice touch.
Thanks Peter. There's an amazing array of fonts out there. I just searched for 'chalk fonts' and got dozens which I could use - including some simulating handwriting in crayon. One of my favourites is called 'Cool Spaghetti'

Dead easy to install on W7. Download the font, right click on the downloaded .ttf file and then click 'Install'

Rik
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Post by Soar Valley Light » Wed Jun 08, 2016 9:34 pm

Great idea Rik. It looks very prototypical. I can understand the need for something a little more visible though. I'm sure I've seen wagons somewhere in the past with space on the bodysides to chalk on. Certainly wagon label clips were sometimes on the body side rather than the solebar and I expect this was far more common on the narrow gauge lines that had them for similar reasons of avoiding crouching down to read them!
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