In the railroad collecting hobby, "warrants" refer to two distinctly different collectibles.

The most common types of warrants were checks issued by railroad companies. They may or may be labeled "warrants." There are tens of thousands of such warrants (or, the more generic term, checks) available for check collectors from thousands of railroad companies. If you are interested in collecting checks, I recommend the American Society of Check Collectors. Visit the society's web site at http://members.aol.com/asccinfo/.

Warrants that resemble checks are NOT covered in this guidebook.

Conversely, I do catalog warrants that resemble ordinary stock certificates. They are often burdened with voluminous text explaining their exact purposes. In general, they represented dividend payments or interest payments, and they were commonly redeemable only by purchasing more company stocks or bonds.