Railroadiana or railwayana refers to artifacts of currently or formerly operating railways around the world. Railroadiana can include items such as:

• public or employee timetables
  Public transport timetable
  A public transport timetable is a representation of public transport information to assist a passenger with planning a trip using public transport. A timetable details when vehicle will arrive and depart specified locations and may be organised for by route or for a particular stop...
  
  
• promotional or advertising materials from railway passenger and freight service
• brakeman's or marker lanterns
• horns
  Train horn
  Train horns are audible warning devices found on most diesel and electric locomotives. Their primary purpose is to alert persons and animals to the presence of a train, especially when approaching a grade crossing. They are also used for acknowledging signals given by railroad employees Train horns...
  
   and whistles
• locomotive
  Locomotive
  A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
  
   nameplate
  Nameplate
  A nameplate identifies and displays a person or product's name. Name plates are usually shaped as rectangles but are also seen in other shapes, sometimes taking on the shape of someone’s name...
  
  s
• station
  Train station
  A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
  
   signs and railway signal
  Railway signal
  A signal is a mechanical or electrical device erected beside a railway line to pass information relating to the state of the line ahead to train/engine drivers. The driver interprets the signal's indication and acts accordingly...
  
  s
• dining car
  Dining car
  A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
  
   linens
  Linens
  Linens are fabric household goods, such as pillowcases and towels.Originally, many, such as bed sheets and tablecloths, were made of linen. Today, the term "linen" has come to be applied to all related products even though most are made of cotton, synthetic fabrics or blends...
  
  , holloware
  Holloware
  Holloware is a term that refers to table service items such as sugar bowls, creamers, coffee pots, teapots, soup tureens, hot food covers, water pitchers, platters, butter pat plates and other metal items that went with the china on a table. It does not include flatware. Holloware was constructed...
  
  , flatware and china
  China
  Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
  
  
• sleeping car
  Sleeping car
  The sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
  
   linens
• datenail
  Datenail
  Datenails were tagging devices utilized by railroads to visually identify the age of a railroad tie. Different railroads used different sized nails with either alpha or numerical markings. An example would be a Southern Pacific Railroad nail with the marking "01" stamped on the head of the nail...
  
  s, rail spikes or short sections of rail
• train dispatching forms and train order
  Train order
  Train order operation, or more accurately Timetable and Train order operation, is a largely obsolete system by which the railroads of North America conveyed operating instructions before the days of centralized traffic control, direct traffic control, and the use of track warrants conveyed by radio...
  
  s
• railroad hand tools such as wrenches, shovels and brakeman's clubs

There are many more types of railroadiana available to the collector. Some railroadiana collectors include items in their collections as large as speeder

Speeder

A speeder is a maintenance of way motorized vehicle formerly used on railroads around the world by track inspectors and work crews to move quickly to and...

s or complete passenger cars.

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 (rare or from popular lines) items may sell for significant multiples of their original price.