In an effort trying to locate reference material I have had some luck. Photo copyrights apply used for reference.
In this photo taken by Jackson Thode published in Trains magazine December 1941 we can see the use of Fruehauf vans. Note the van on the left- a roof carrier on the top. Interesting. Obviously this pre-dates the super strict ICC trucking regulation.
This photo was taken what appears to be Highway 6 just outside Golden. Neat Mack B-73 and a steel 34' van tandam axel.
I've found several different styles RGM used. Back in this era all lettering was hand painted from a drawing. Most of these master sign painters used some creative license. Most of these graphics exhibit subtle changes from one to another despite being the "same" the nature of hand lettering. In this case the Shadow lettering with the "speed font" is seen. I patterned my decals after this with a slight adjustment from the reference I found on Hanks Truck Pictures. In the later years a boxed design with white letters was used. My era 1949-1955 it would more likely to see the long stretched out "speed style font" lettering and red stripe seen in this photo.
Beginning with the computer I superimpoze the photo under my vector art. I beginning by tracing the best as possible. It is after all a miniature and some errors can be snuck by the viewer when applied to the model.
Hanks Truck site has this neat set created by a collector I can't recall his name and or find them again. The trouble with Google. Ugh. It shows the slight differences in the "speed letter G". I added this with some creative license.
The victims awaiting removal of the REA diamonds shall be ideal subjects for the ultimate Rio Grande Motorway van load! These Lionel 1/48 scale vans are just fabulous; simply marvelous. A fine scale model by any measure.
Ready for the printer
In these photos courtesy of the Denver Public Library (c)Otto Perry the first generation logo can be seen. It's tempting to use these and still it is difficult to locate exactly when these designs evolved. I assume this was the earliest logo for RGM. It is similar to the "toilet seat" DRGW logo.
Ancient - interesting for sure
