Oh come on Drew, you have to realize that reversing a single stencil would only result in the lettering being backwards, not make it lean the other way. The story I heard is the D&RGW wanted the lettering on locomotive tenders to lean the same way the engine was going to give the impression of speed and economy. Whether that meant it should lean into or away from the direction travel I don't know. I would have thought they'd make it lean away from the direction the engine was going - like the awesome speed was pushing the lettering over - but that would be the opposite of what is in your picture. I don't think it applied to freight cars or cabese - never seen the reverse lean on anything but locomotive tenders. I also heard that in the later years there was only one stencil and it got applied to both sides of tenders.
Great shots anyway - I don't mean to be a nitpicker but your comment about the stencil got me going - or were you just seeing if anyone was paying attention?

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