General Discussion (Model Railroader)

American Morse wrote:

How's this look?

Looks real good....only problem is now I have to do it so I can say I did it!

Stix,

  You bring up a good point about the term 'logo' or 'herald'.  Most commercial advertising or publishers will call it a 'logo'.  I have read some old publications where there is reference to a companies 'herald', but not much more.  The term 'Herald' may be more of a 'railfan/modeler' term, and I suspect it was started with the old Walthers line of decals.  The heavy German influence in the Milwaukee area may also have been part of it.

  Many times terms are 'regional' or company specific.  I remember working for the Burlington in the late 60's;  A 'dwarf' signal was called a 'pot' signal.  The Milwaukee Road crews called them 'bugs', and others called them 'dummy' signals.  On the Burlington we had 'motors' and waycars', while the Milwaukee Road had 'engines' and 'cabooses'.  What we modelers call a 'slip switch' was known as a 'puzzle' switch at the St Paul Union Depot....

Jim

Well and the Milwaukee had patrols instead of way freights...but with cabooses instead of waycars!! I know what in Minnesota we call a "drinking fountain" our Wisconsin neighbors call a "bubbler", plus Milwaukee has a few German names for things that are only used in that area.

From what I've read, "herald" was the traditional railroad term for what most businesses would call a "logo". (I've heard it referred to as a "medallion" too.) I'm pretty sure it's not a regional or modeller/railfan only term, although I know there are a lot of terms we use (like "turnouts" instead of "switches", and talking about "phases" of a diesel engine's production history) that real railroaders don't use.

Of course, I suspect most railroad people today would call it a "logo", I bet when BNSF was working on the "swoosh" they or the company they hired to design it called it a "logo".

tomikawaTT wrote:

My 'custom herald,' the Tomikawa Maru that appears on Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo rolling stock, is hand-scribed with a white fine-tipped marker on the black or grunge brown car side (car door, in the case of box wagons.)  I've tried, unsuccessfully, to create a printable computer graphic for decal production.  Since my hand-painted version meets the 100 meter test, I've decided to leave well enough alone. The JNR didn't use a herald. Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

hey chuck, if you have a scan, even a low res, I could probably do it up in Adobe Illustrator, which by the way is what I recommend for almost all such purposes ie monograms, logos and line art in general.

Dan 

sfrailfan wrote:

tomikawaTT wrote: My 'custom herald,' the Tomikawa Maru that appears on Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo rolling stock, is hand-scribed with a white fine-tipped marker on the black or grunge brown car side (car door, in the case of box wagons.)  I've tried, unsuccessfully, to create a printable computer graphic for decal production.  Since my hand-painted version meets the 100 meter test, I've decided to leave well enough alone. The JNR didn't use a herald. Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)   hey chuck, if you have a scan, even a low res, I could probably do it up in Adobe Illustrator, which by the way is what I recommend for almost all such purposes ie monograms, logos and line art in general.   Dan

I've done my AFT, and now the Railinks using a combo of Paint and Photoshop, plus Word as that's how I"d be printing them out and need to make sure they flow right

GMTRacing wrote:

That's some nice work gentlemen. I loved tracking the way the herald developed from the first question CL. I believe the term herald is a reference to the herald symbol used for armies or other government entities from way back in the mists of history. You have to admit on the front of a cab unit the herald does look quite like a knights' shield, no?   J.R.

Thank you for the comment on how the HERALD aged! I figure in about 20 years when I feel confident enough to attempt painting on my own I'll have a real nice design to go with.

When I started this thread I was drawing a mental blank on what term to use. I tried the search function but with no results of any nutritional value.