Thanks Andrew -

It wasn't only in earlier days that sign-writers applied numbers and logos
to the trams - from examining photos of Adelaide trams, it is obvious that
ALL numbers were hand-painted, and of two styles with at least two or three
different heights used. Norm Cross relates that even into the latter days
of the M&MTB that the sign-writer would be used to get a freshly painted
tram back on the road when transfers/decals had run-out. As for the
Met/Metropolitan Transit numbers, they are a common Sans Serif font of the
Helvetica 'family', but even then it came in two varieties - made obvious
when a tram was partly-renumbered.

Also thank you Matthew -

Do the drawings at STM describe the class letters and the white numbers ?

How 'low-res' are the scans, and what exactly do you count as 'small' ?

From photographs that appear in TDU, the white numbers on restored Sydney
trams are significantly different to those on unrestored cars.

And last but not least, thank you Tony -

I see your point, and as 'font' has become entrenched within our culture I
don't see it being changed back to 'fount' any time soon. However, having
been a young 'victim' of Americanised English (TV, Hollywood), I now do my
best to speak and spell correctly; no matter how many people say/spell
words a certain way, that is not a valid argument that they are right. (cf.
recent discussion on FREEmantle vs. FREmantle). The 'Grammarist' is an
American website, and therefore (to paraphrase the late Douglas Adams) I
would trust it about as far as I could comfortably spit a live rat.

Cheers,

X=X=X