NOTE:
Although all of these digitized articles are 60 or more years old, and likely have minimal commercial value today, the reader should bear in mind that material dated after 1923 remains under copyright by Simmons-Boardman Publishing.
These articles and the information contained therein may be freely reproduced or used in printed or electronic form for non-commercial or educational purposes, provided the copyright holder and original author (if known) are acknowledged, and provided that such publication also refers readers to the original document on this site.
Simply making interesting material available to those who share my interest in the railway signal systems of the past has been my sole objective in this long project.
This site of digitized articles from the Railway Signaing journal represents an eight-year labor of love for me. Though the time involved has been substantial, it has been worthwhile because it provides a readily-accessible body of reading for me and for other like-minded individuals with a fascination in railway signaling.
It's hard to believe that railroad signaling was once the subject of a monthly magazine. Describing itself as "The Only Publication Devoted Exclusively to Signaling," a journal known as The Signal Engineer made its first appearance in June 1908. Published monthly, this journal covered this new field within railroading that was growing in importance and in capability.
The journal was later acquired by Simmons-Boardman, the publisher of Railway Age, and served to round out its suite of railroad-related publications. In this era, Railway Age was a weekly publication, chock full of technical information about a burgeoning industry.
The publication represented here was known by various names during its lifetime: The Signal Engineer from inception to 1915, Railway Signal Engineer from 1916 to 1923, and Railway Signaling from 1923 to 1948. The growth of the electronics and communication industry led to a retitling to Railway Signaling and Communication to reflect a change in focus.
As the North American rail industry declined in the Sixties, the magazine became thinner and less technical, rebranding itself as Railway System Controls in 1970. Ultimately, RSC gave up the ghost during the railroad industry's pre-rebirth doldrums of the late Seventies.
The choice of subject matter in this collection is somewhat eclectic. Quite simply, it reflects my own personal interests, haphazard though they may be. The reader will find this collection weighted toward some Midwestern favorites: Chicago & North Western, Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy, Illinois Central, Milwaukee Road, Nickel Plate, Wabash, and others.
A few years' worth of Railway Signaling has so far escaped my scanning, but will be pursued as time permits. Since Google has digitized and made available online issues of this journal from 1923 or earlier whose copyright has lapsed, there is no need for me to duplicate Google's effort.
— Jon Roma <jonroma@gmail.com>, January 2016.