Wotan, no disrespect, however, in my 50 plus years of experience and talking with others who buy directly from veterans as I do, the only known manufacturers for the 2nd Model Railway are Eickhorn and Horster. ALL the unmarked ones are Horsters. I believe that the different makers were originally unmarked Horsters and, some dealers believe, you have to have a TM blade to sell a dagger, so they added a TM marked blade. This practice was very common in the 1960s and 1970s. I HAVE SEEN IT DONE BY SOME OF THE LESSER EXPERIENCED DEALERS AT THE TIME!!!
There are certain traits common to both manufacturers that can distingush the maker. Scabbard rings, fittings, TMs and such can identify which one was the maker. There are distict differences between Eickhorns and Horsters. YOu can't mix the parts.
Horster marked 2nd Model Rails are unique. The TM on them is ONLY used on this dagger. You can't interchange blades from an Army or Luft 2nd to make a Rail. The scabbard rings are different size than an Eickhorn, etc.
JUST FROM MY EXPERIENCE, I can spot a rail by maker without examining the blade.
I don't know why some manufacturers had a lock on certain daggers. Red Cross Daggers, NSFKs, TeNos, NPEAs, 2nd Model Railways, etc. Say what you will, but only some manufacturers made these daggers and not others.
I believe when the air clears on dagger production, other models will be found to only have been manufactured by certain ones: RLB Jrs., for example, were only made by a few and, depending on first or second models, only some by one manufacturer: eg. Spitzer only made RLB Jrs, not a Leader's Dagger. Why? I don't know, but that's the way it was.
Ron Weinand
Weinand Militaria
