Railroadiana

Railroad artifacts

Railroadiana or railwayana refers to artifacts of currently or formerly operating railways around the world.

Background

Railroadiana can include items such as:^[1]

Brakeman's or marker lanterns
Date nails, rail spikes, or short sections of rail
Dining car linens, holloware, cutlery, or porcelain
Locomotive nameplates or builder's plates
Promotional or advertising materials from railway passenger and freight service
Public or employee timetables
Railroad hand tools such as wrenches, shovels, or brakeman's clubs
Railroad switch stands or keys
Sleeping car linens
Station signs and railway signals
Trackside signs such as mile post markers, whistle posts, or flanger signs
Train dispatching forms and train orders
Train horns and whistles

There are many more types of railroadiana available to the collector. Some railroadiana collectors include items in their collections as large as speeders or complete passenger cars.^{[citation needed]}

The majority of pieces forming a collection can be legally obtained, often but not always at low cost, from either surplus or scrap sales from the railroad companies themselves, or through aftermarket railroadiana shows. Highly desirable items (rare or from popular lines) may sell for significant multiples of their original price.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

A creamer and sugar bowl used by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, made by Harrison & Howson for dining car service
A brass plaque from an Andrew Barclay locomotive of 1925