Renumbering Locomotives and Freight Cars?

[HCF]

Hey all,

Is it possible to renumber locomotives and freight cars? I know you can strip paint, but how do you remove the numbers and letters from the cars?

[Flintlock76]

It depends on how they were applied to begin with.  It they're painted on they'll come off during the paint stripping process.

If they're hot-stamped as Lionel did years ago it's another matter.  The numbers are going to be impressed in the plastic and even after you strip the paint the "ghosts" of the numbers will still be visible.  You'll have some serious sanding to do to eliminate them totally.  You'll have to sand as well if you're just going to paint over the car without stripping, they'll still show if you don't.  

All that being said, it's definately possible to renumber locomotives and cars.

[HCF]

Lovely.

I'll admit, I tried sanding off some heat stamped lettering from a NYC gondola with a rotary tool. The results were less than stellar.  Didn't ruin the gondola, just uglified it a bit unintentionally.

In the future I guess I'll try just sand paper, elbow grease, and patience.

Would it be feasible to cut out a small square of thin styrene or something like that and paint new numbers on it? Not sure if that's the approach I'll go for, but it might be nice to do for post war steamer numbers so the original number is still secretly preserved.

[Flintlock76]

HCF

Would it be feasible to cut out a small square of thin styrene or something like that and paint new numbers on it?

Certainly!  And it sounds like a lot less hassle than sanding!  And instead of painting you could try decaling it.

(Cutting thin sheets of styrene. WHY didn't I think of that?  ) 

As far as repainting and renumbering locomotives, some might say "It's yours, do what you want" and others might say "Leave it alone!"  My thoughts are "It depends."

Depends on condition and rarity.  Post-wars in rough condition that had long production runs, I don't think it matters. Others that are in good shape but had long production runs and are as common as dirt, same thing. The rarer articles might be best left alone.  Obviously the ones that are in mint condition are best left untouched. 

Here's a Lionel research site that might help with your decision making. 

https://www.tandem-associates.com/

[BigAl 956]

I would print the new number out and glue it on with contact cement. That way you can undo it in the future.

[wjstix]

If the lettering was pad-printed (most common method in recent decades), using Walthers Solva-set and a rubber pencil eraser works well. Use a light touch and be patient. If you're careful, you can remove the lettering without affecting the paint underneath.