Ist Bahnschutz

[kegan32]

A lot of debate on the First Model Railway dagger. Tom Johnson's Book, Collecting the Edged Weapons of the Third Reich, Vol 1, Page 119, describes this as identical to the standard Army Officer's dagger except for the addition of a distinctive purple or black colored celluloid grip. He also describes the hangers for this dagger and the usage of a portepee, 42 cms (16.5) aluminum.
I've also heard that the purple grip ones could have been used by chaplains, but normally, chaplains do not have daggers as part of their uniforms. So who really knows. All I know is that you do not see many black grips and the purple grips are 2-3 times as rare as the black grips.
I have one of each in my collection and the dealer who sold me the purple one about 5-6 years ago keeps trying to buy it back from me at a premium.