M43 railway shoulderboards

[Al-muell]

A recent purchase - M43 shoulderboards for the technician lieutenant (at some later point upgraded to Engineer-lieutenant) of the traction service.

Many moths probably grew fat on these boards.

Any opinions on the second star? It's definitely later, but could it be an original addition? After all, the next uniform reform for the railways was in 1947 (and I think that shoulderboards were abolished in 1954) and with the time of service in one rank for the mid-grade command personnel being 4 years, even if the guy started his service in the rank in 1943, he could get the second star after the reform. However, it may as well be a very stupid addition made by one of the sellers when tehse made it to the market.

Any suggestion what function could the owner have had? Something like later machinist 3rd/2nd class?

Close-up on the stars...

The buttons are standard Army type, however, since they are of the type typical typical for the period (3-piece, flat brass unpainted reverse and separate ring), so I find it possible that they were originally used with these boards, even though it was against the regulations.