Photographers Can Show Their Love of Trains With a Rail-Shaped Shoe Cover

Feb 18, 2026

Jeremy Gray

A metal accessory shaped like a miniature railroad rail, shown installed on the hot shoe of a Nikon camera on the left, and separately on the right against a white background.

Japanese train photographers, or “toritetsu,” are spoiled these days. Somehow, yet another railway-themed product for photographers has been released this month, and this time it’s a camera hot shoe cover that looks like a cross-section of train tracks.

The new shoe cover arrives hot on the heels of Ricoh’s new limited-edition camera straps made using the fabric from Tokyo Metro train cars. A photographer with both Ricoh’s new strap and the new rail shoe cover will be the talk of the train station.

The new rail-shaped camera hotshoe cover, reported by CAPA Camera Web, is made by Japanese photo accessory company UN Co., Ltd, which makes a diverse array of products like camera straps, bags, compact lights, filter rings, camera grips, and more.

Close-up views of two Nikon cameras, each with a silver thumb rest accessory attached to the hot shoe mount on top. The cameras are shown from an angled perspective.

“Rails support safe railway operation. This original UN rail-shaped shoe cover faithfully recreates their cross-sectional shape using machined aluminum,” UN writes. “On real rails, metal is sometimes welded to the top of the rail to improve train detection accuracy. This product reproduces even the smallest details through mirror polishing. This is more than just a replica; it’s a piece brimming with respect for engineering.”

Knowing how much some photographers love trains and railways, UN has designed the hotshoe cover to accept an included keychain attachment, so photographers can carry their passion for trains with them wherever they go, even if they don’t want a railway replica protruding from the top of their camera.

A compact black shoulder bag with a logo, shown alongside a metallic keychain shaped like a small railroad rail, attached to a brass key ring.

The UN Rail Shoe Cover weighs about eight grams (0.3 ounces) and is 18.6 millimeters (0.73 inches) tall. So while lightweight, it is not exactly small. It’s a noticeable addition to a camera, although that is arguably part of its appeal.

This is not UN’s first foray into train-themed items for photographers. Last year, the company released much sleeker, more subtle hotshoe covers for toritetsu. One flat hot shoe cover features the logo of the Tsubame Express, a historically significant train for nearly a century in Japan. Another hotshoe cover shows the swallow logo that adorned the JNR Class C62 steam locomotive. Both of these hot shoe covers were licensed through the Japan Railways (JR) Group.

Side-by-side close-up of a camera's hot shoe mount: the left side shows a plain black cover with a white "M" logo, while the right side shows a blue cover with a yellow and white bird design.