CB&Q Railroad Signal Font Need Advice

[northbear]

I am restoring a CB&Q (Chicago Burlington & Quincy) Railroad signal for our historical society.  On these signals were a number plate which identified by mile post the location of the signal.  These signs as best I can tell appeared in the late 1930s or 1940s.  They were originally stencil numbers but over the years were 'retouched' with a paint brush and the stencil lines disappeared.  I would like help identifying or finding a matching font that can be used to recreate  a set of stencils so a new number sign can be reproduced.  Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

[Ignacio]

Eurostile Stencil Black Extended, as a Stencil, would get you not far, maybe no wide enough and too thick.

An idea if you could make your own Stencil for this case, would be trying using Max Miedinger Horizontal, “recently” digitized by Canada Type as Miedinger with more weights, as a base and make it Stencil, looks like the EULA would allow you to do it. Check the medium weight:

[Riccardo Sartori]

A bit thin, but freely modifiable: Michroma.

Other wide sans serifs.

[Ignacio]

In RailFonts you have also Empire Builder and Gotthard that are similar too.

BTW, there they mention a font coming from the Chicago Burlington and Quincy, Burlington, a very different face to the one you are looking for but thought you would like to know, just in case you didn’t know 🙂

[northbear]

Is it hard to modify one of these fonts?  I'm not a graphic artist and don't have much computer design skill.  Would a sign company be able to take one of these fonts and modify them to fit?

 

Thank you both for finding these fonts.

[Ignacio]

Northbear, it is not hard if you know what are you doing, and knowing how to use a graphic design program like Adobe Illustrator for example.

A sign company might know, could be, ask them... And if they don't, probably someone around here could help you, it looks a very interesting project 🙂

[northbear]

Ignacio - I still have time before I need to have this sign completed.  I don't think I would need all numbers modified, just a few that I plan to use for the sign.  I will post on here when the time comes and maybe someone would be interested for a small fee. 

[George Thomas]

@Northbear, do check with a sign company. These days, like everyone else, they are digital. Illustrator is one of the most common programs they would likely have, or something similar. The modifications will cost very little if you also buy the sign from them. They may also do it for free.