Railroad Magazines

Railroad Magazine,
Railroad Man's Magazine and Railroad Stories

1906	1921	1936	1951	1966
1907	1922	1937	1952	1967
1908	1923	1938	1953	1968
1909	1924	1939	1954	1969
1910	1925	1940	1955	1970
1911	1926	1941	1956	1971
1912	1927	1942	1957	1972
1913	1928	1943	1958	1973
1914	1929	1944	1959	1974
1915	1930	1945	1960	1975
1916	1931	1946	1961	1976
1917	1932	1947	1962	1977
1918	1933	1948	1963	1978
1919	1934	1949	1964	1979
1920	1935	1950	1965	1980

Pick a year. Then click the "See selected year" button.

Highlighted years are those where I have some information or photos. Unfortunately, I do NOT have good information or photos for all years.

Railroad Magazine began as a true "pulp" magazine, printed on low-grade, high-wood pulp paper. The paper was meant to be cheap; it was never intended to last long. >From the late 1930s onward, the magazine was printed in such high volumes that it is fairly easy to find issues in relatively good condition. Brittle pages, however, are to be expected and I suspect that unless magazines are de-acidified, fully intact issues will becime progressively harder to find in the next few decades.

The magazine started out as a vehicle for fiction and followed in the footsteps of "story" magazines such as Saturday Night, Ballou's, Kelly's Pictorial and a host of others. As early as the 1850's railroad adventures were very popular and often appeared in serial form over two or three months.

Frank Munsey started Railroad Man's Magazine in 1906 as a male companion to his successful Argosy Magazine. It proved moderately successful and lasted in independent form under Munsey until early 1919. At that time, he combined it with his popular male-oriented Argosy Magazine under the banner of Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine. It seems likely that the combined magazine cut into total revenues, and in less than two years, Munsey separated the two magazines.

The magazine kept the Railroad Man's title until early 1932 when it morphed into Railroad Stories with more vivid covers more in keeping with popular pulp mystery and "true crime" magazines.

Railroad Stories only lasted a little over five years and gradually met the demand for more factual material. The masthead changed to Railroad Magazine in 1937 and it appears circulation jumped rather dramatically. Fictional pieces survived for a few years, but ultimately gave way to photos and statistics of real railroading.

Five years after the name change, the magazine shifted ownership to Popular Publications and the magazine gradually took on a slicker appearance. Paper quality generally improved, although covers were always attached somewhat flimsily.

Please note: Railroad Magazine was very sloppy in its volume/issue numbering. It is not at all unusual to find skipped numbers and numbers out of sequence. Sometimes the magazine got back on track after numbering mistakes and sometimes it did not. Volume/issue numbers are generally confirmed only for those issues with images contributed by me.

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(Last updated May 16, 2010)