Railway Fonts

[superalbs]

Hello, I sometimes find myself wondering what fonts are used on the railways.

I am particularly interested in a free font that mimics the EMT Class 158's destination display.

If you have any idea where I could find such a thing, it'd be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Dhassell]

Hello, I sometimes find myself wondering what fonts are used on the railways.

I am particularly interested in a free font that mimics the EMT Class 158's destination display.

If you have any idea where I could find such a thing, it'd be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Comic Sans

 

[superalbs]

Is that so?

 

[Dhassell]

Is This a font war now is it?

 

[superalbs]

No, I'd prefer you kept on topic so I could find an answer to my query, thanks.

 

[Harbornite]

Have you tried consulting Porterbrook/ Angel Trains? Basically the relevant Rosco.

 

[superalbs]

I don't tend to get a response from companies when asking for little things such as that.
The display on the Class 158s isn't a particular font, I was just wondering if there were one available to replicate it.

 

[319321]

To answer your particular question with regards to 'what font is used on the East Midlands Trains Destination Display?', I have no idea, but I know how I would approach the problem:

1) I would start by taking a look at the LCD fonts available at dafont.com. This link takes you to a list of open-source and 100% free fonts that look like LCD displays (bear in mind there are two pages) and gives you a preview of them using the text Derby, Chesterfield and SHEFFIELD. You can then identify the font most similar to what you are looking for by eye.

2) If none of those fonts match, this link includes those fonts that are free for personal use or not free at all (shareware, donationationware etc) in case the first link doesn't provide you with what you wanted. You can check the license of each individual font on the far right hand side of the fonts entry in the database above the download button.

3) Another tool that is useful if you have a high-quality image of some text in the font that you wish to identify is WhatTheFont? tool made available by myfonts.com, and if that doesn't identify it there are lots of font experts ready to have a go in the WhatTheFont forum.
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Also, just in case I've missed the point and the destination display you speak of is one of those 'flip character' things (flap display) (though I havn't seen one in years), try looking at the following free fonts:
Stencilie
JD Eugenia
Aero

 

[N228PF]

Does a large portion of the railway still use Rail Alphabet?

 

[319321]

I've certainly seen the logos from 'Rail Alphabet' in use, and its still widely used albeit the signs it is used on that I see regularly are now quite old.
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Also, RSSB specified that the Railway Alphabet font is used in most* signage.

*I can see that they don't require it for LCD/LED displays for example, but it is still specified as the font for new Platform Stop Boards in the specification issued in May 2016.

 

[319321]

I was doing some research into fonts suitable for dyslexics today, and while looking at that produces the Lexie Readable font produced by the k-type foundry I found that they also make a font similar to that used on railway tickets: Ticketing.

It available for free download for personal or charity use, a commercial license only costs £12.

(Their advertising image).
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Another font that K-Type produce that may be useful to those doing Railway modelling for train simulator or similar is theSubway Ticker font.

Again, this is free for personal or charity use or £12 for commercial use.

(Their advertising image)
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Please can a mod edit the image to a smaller size as my editing privileges have been removed.

 

[Harbornite]

The font I use for all my work is Gill sans, which originated with the LNER.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Those are both actually very interesting fonts, thank you for sharing 319321! Very reasonable commercial licenses as well - I can see myself using those.

 

[319321]

Don't forget to check out the fonts in post 8 as well!

 

[jopsuk]

(Their advertising image)

That's an awesome mock up! I love the "Moon Settlement Plan" background on it