You are here: Homepage Miscellaneous about the RhB RhB Collectibles Address of this page: http://www.ozdoba.net/rhb/varia/sammeln_e.html

Rhaetian Railway (RhB) – Prototype and H0m Model Railroading

RhB Collectibles

      RhB enthusiasts can, of course, collect nearly everything; Napoleon's famous phrase, however, is also applicable in this field.
      Well known in Switzerland, far less common elsewhere, are the “Kaffeerahmdeckeli.” The word is hard to translate; literally translated, you would have to call them something like “coffee cream pot covers” – in many restaurants, cream is served in little plastic pots; the metal foil covers appear in series showing various topics, and there are many people who collect these covers. Ecologically, the whole thing is, of course, desastrous: Plastic and metal foils! In better restaurants, however, cream is still served in a glass or porcelain jug. I would categorize these metal foils or sugar bags with RhB motives as ridiculous, …

      … while this item from my collection may perhaps not be called “sublime,” but you feel an aura of railroad history around it when you take it in your hands:

      It is the original control wheel from one of the DC motor coaches of the Arosa line (by now, they have all either been sold or scraped). For decades, it was used every day on the Arosa line, and many engineers have held it in their hands.

I leave it to you, my dear readers, how you want to classify this item:       It is a toilet paper roll holder from the same motor coach …

      This brings us to the question: What can you collect, or what should you collect as an RhB enthusiast? My answer to this question is simple: Whatever you want!

      For most friends of the RhB, their personal collection of photographs and slides is probably most important.
      Numerous articles bearing the RhB logo are easily available, from a deck of cards to a mousepad, from a telephone card to a pocket calculator. All these, however, can “simply be bought” (e.g., at the Bahnladen or large RhB stations), they are no real “collectibles.”

      It is more fun to collect things that are somehow “personal” as they may recall memories of special events or moments, e.g., tickets.

      You are entering the world of real collectibles with items that were actually in use at the RhB. Two examples from my literature collection may help to illustrate what I mean:

      When, instead of paying a lot of money to a railroad antiquarian, you simply find things like these in an RhB office, save them from the shredder and get them for free, it is even more fun!

      Rinally, I want to show you an item from my collection of which I am particularly proud although it is not a “real” collectible:

      This is not one of the “old railroad bonds” that are occasionally offered, but a valid RhB share certificate! A very small percentage of the RhB shares is privately owned; some time ago, I had the chance to buy one of these shares, and now, I am a “registered by name” co-owner of the RhB! (Please don't scratch that half inch of rail that is mine ;-)

Copyright © 2000–2008 and responsible for contents: Christoph Ozdoba.
First version March 13, 2000, last edited February 17, 2008.

Back to the section Miscellaneous about the RhB / the RhB homepage.