Rail Fonts
BENJAMIN COIFMAN
Secret Sidewalk Software- a very nonexistent, nonprofit corporation.
It's rail font release time again. There are 5 new and 12 revised fonts
depicting train silhouettes (as you type different letters on the keyboard
you couple a train together on your screen), lettering used by railroads,
roadways & train tracks, and railroad heralds. The fonts are available
for the Mac and IBM.
I thought I would have it all ready by July, but between work and
documentation, it just didn't make it out the door until now. The fonts are
just coming on line now. They should be available at the Cyberspace
Railroad WEB site already (much thanks to Daniel Dawdy for all of his help and
for spending way too much of his time on this), at the FTP site soon, and on
the varios dialup services within a matter of weeks.
To those of you who have registered, THANK YOU. There are now 125 of you.
Updates are included, but additional support is always welcome.
If you find use for my fonts, please remember to pay the shareware fee. I
have put thousands of hours into them (and oh do I hate doing documentation).
I have released the fonts in their entirety trusting that enough people will
pay the shareware fee.
Like the fonts? But you don't want to send some nut in California your hard
earned money? Yet you feel guilty about using shareware without paying the
fee? Absolve yourself by joining your local railroad museum (full scale
please), taking a train ride with the kids, or donating a little extra time or
money to your present railroad museum. These things are almost as good as
paying the shareware fee.
Reference material-
Is there something you feel I should include in a font? Please let me know.
I need your feedback to learn what is in demand. The best way to get me to
produce these is to provide the reference material (no promises that I will
use unsolicited material though). Usually, all I need are reasonable quality
photocopies. I live in a small apartment and don't have that much reference
material on hand. I have found that the heralds on old time tables are great
for working from (say in the 2 to 4 inch range).
Another way to sway my interests is to register. I try to give my top
customers first class service.
Future Releases-
I will try to have two releases per year. One around January and one around
July. Note the stress on "try" and "around", I am suppose to be a grad
student after all. If you do not see a post and you are curious, feel free to
drop me e-mail or a note asking when the next release should be. I should be
around for at least a few more years.
Enough talking, on to the fonts...
AVAILABLE SHAREWARE FILES: ICONS & FONTS
All fonts are available for the Mac and most are available for the IBM.
See the end of this article for more information on locating the fonts.
NOTE:
Mac users, you may have to de-BINHEX the files before you can use them.
Then, double click on the file cabinet icon and watch the magic.
IBM users, you may have to de-UUENCODE (aka uudecode) the files. Then,
find a copy of PKUNZIP (comes with PKZIP) and unzip the files the hard way.
PRODUCT LINE:
^^^^^^^^^^^^
<<<NEW>>>
^^^
Boxcars (Alphabet Train Jr) Font 1.0:
Like the original, this font will let you couple your words together.
Mix things up with the other silhouette fonts for a real mixed train. Fully
compatible with the Passenger, Freight, Alphabet Train, Demo, etc..
Roads Font 1.0:
First came Train Tracks, but many of the users were multi-modal and
wanted to play with cars too. If you live with Hot Wheels, Micro Machines, or
other toy cars, why not print off a few sheets of Roads from your printer for
an inexpensive play mat. It includes a number of grade crossings to interface
with the Train Tracks font. (Hot tip for Mac users, if your printer can
handle Type 3 fonts, try the Type 3 version, you'll be glad you did)
Gotthard Font 1.0:
This font is inspired by the lettering used by several Swiss railway
companies. Includes accented characters and punctuation.
Signals Font 1.0:
A silhouette font of various wayside objects. Almost any signal,
crossing gate, wig-wag, and semaphore you could possibly want. Fully
compatible with the Passenger, Freight, Alphabet Train, Demo, etc..
Railroad Sign Font 1.0:
Railroad Sign includes the common signs found along the right of way.
Don't worry, if the font doesn't have what you are looking for, it includes
the lettering so that you can make your own matching signs. Included with the
package is the Station Sign Font, perfect for making your own Junction Signs
or banners.
<<<MAJOR ADDITIONS>>>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Railroad Heralds Font 1.2:
This font depicts the heralds of various railroads. The collection has
grown by almost 600% since the last release.
Railroad Roman Font 1.2:
A Roman font in the style of classic railroad lettering. This font was
primarily designed for model railroaders; however, it is an attractive title
case for almost any document. It now comes with two versions, one for
modelers and one with small caps, accents, punctuation and better spacing for
documents.
Empire Builder Font 1.2:
This font duplicates the typeface used by the Great Northern on it's
name train, The Empire Builder. It now comes with three versions, standard,
light and one with small caps, accents, punctuation and better spacing for
documents.
TrainTracks Font 1.1:
This font is the best thing since snap track. It will allow you to
layout almost any yard imaginable. And it's easy too! All of the characters
fit together right on your word processor. It now supports several new layout
possibilities.
Rail Icons 1.6:
Macintosh only. This is a collection of various locomotives, heralds
and rail cars to spice up your desk top. 115 icons in color and black &
white, large and small are included. It even comes with a couple of ppats.
Alphabet Train Font 1.2:
A blend of Railroad Roman and the freight silhouettes. Useful for
titles, page numbers, etc.. Fully compatible with the Passenger, Freight,
Modern Passenger, Demo, etc..
<<<Smaller Changes>>>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Zephyr Font 1.2:
This is a recreation of the Zephyr Gothic letterface once used by the
Chicago Burlington & Quincy on it's name trains (also used by Western Pacific
and Denver & Rio Grande Western)
RailPassenger (AKA Passenger) Font 2.2:
A picture font of silhouettes depicting pre-Amtrak passenger trains (ca.
1950). For example, if you type "qgv" you get a locomotive and two passenger
cars coupled together in your document. Fully compatible with the Freight,
Modern Passenger, Alphabet Train, Demo, etc..
RailFreight (AKA Freight) Font 2.2:
A picture font of silhouettes depicting freight trains (ca. 1960). For
example, if you type "qsz" you get a locomotive boxcar & caboose coupled
together in your document. Fully compatible with the Passenger, Modern
Passenger, Alphabet Train, Demo, etc..
RailModPax (AKA ModernPassenger) Font 2.2:
A picture font of silhouettes depicting newer passenger trains (ca. 1960
- today). For example, if you type "qaf" you get a locomotive Am-Box &
Superliner coupled together in your document. Fully compatible with the
Passenger, Freight, Alphabet Train, Demo, etc..
Daylight Font 1.1:
Macintosh only (at first). This font captures one of the most famous
trains of all time, the 1937 Daylight. It is a gray scale Type3 font and may
not work on some printers. If your printer can handle Type3 fonts, you've got
to see a printout. Fully compatible with the Passenger, Freight, Alphabet
Train, Demo, etc..
Warbonnet Font 1.1:
Macintosh only (at first). This font recreates the colorful passenger
trains of the Santa Fe... in black and white. It is a gray scale Type3 font
and may not work on some printers. If your printer can handle Type3 fonts,
you've got to see a printout. Fully compatible with the Passenger, Freight,
Alphabet Train, Demo, etc..
HOW TO GET THE FILES:
The Mac and IBM products are available from the same site. By anonymous
FTP, try:
bbs.augsburg.edu in files/fonts/IBM or files/fonts/Mac
Remember that the online IBM files are ZIP'ed and UUENCODED while the
Mac files are BinHexed self-extracting-archives.
You can now view and download the fonts over the World Wide Web. Take
a ride on the Cyberspace Railroad, if you pass Go, collect $200. But more
importantly, couple up to:
URL http://www.mcs.com/~dsdawdy/cyberoad.html
The most current files are always available by mail. Send a couple of
FORMATTED 3.5 inch disks, (Three HD for Mac, or Two HD for IBM recommended),
to the following address. INCLUDE A SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE or at
least postage. In case I can't fit every thing on to your disks, you may want
to specify what you want or what you already have. Be sure to send formatted
disks and a self addressed stamped envelope, or I may be unable to return your
disks. At some point, this may become a disk exchange. So you might get
different disks back than the ones you sent in.
Benn Coifman
ASUC Box 624 # 4510
Bancroft & Telegraph
Berkeley, CA 94720-4510
USA
Don't forget to include your e-mail address
PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH, as my mailbox provider has proven that they like to
lose an occasional package or two.
zep...@cory.eecs.berkeley.edu
or
zep...@uclink.berkeley.edu