Ray Gundrum, Metro's Paint Shop
"How They're Made - Queen City Metro's Rollsigns"
When destination signs at Queen City Metro were still hand crafted by specialists, the late
Ray Gundrum was the man for the job. Father of Paul who is a driver and road supervisor
at Metro, Ray is seen displaying his craft in this series of photos from Metro's paint shop.

(The captions and all the photos are from the collection of Clifford Kuhl. Used with permission.)
Stage one of the
process is cutting
the stencil for the
exposure.
Stage two involves
cleaning the screen
in preparation for
inking.
Stage four: Screening the colors.
Cincinnati's signs had basically
two colors: Red for route number
or express, and blue for the rest
of the display. Three readings at a
time were printed, allowed to dry,
then the other color was applied.
Stage three:
Mounting the screens in a
wooden frame - this is an
ancient art, and it was still
being used in the eighties!
Stage five:
When the second color was
applied, the finished sign was
simply spliced into the curtain
with plain cellophane tape.
These displays were concise,
neatly applied and easy to read.
The ink was rubber based,
similar to offset printing ink,
and permeated this part of the
shop. Perhaps Ray was
somehow immune to it.
The finished
product worked
in the Flxibles,
both old and
new like those
seen here. These
signs were also
used in GM
New Looks and
AM Generals in
the fleet.