The Railway Magazine

The Railway Magazine

Cover of the October 1901 issue. Typical for early 20th century: only the colours, issue number, date and volume changed from month to month
Editor	Chris Milner
Former editors	George Augustus Nokes ("G.A. Sekon"), first editor
Categories	Railway
Frequency	Monthly
Circulation	37,291 (January–December 2015)
First issue	July 1897
Company	Mortons of Horncastle
Country	United Kingdom
Based in	Lincolnshire
Language	English
Website	http://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk
ISSN	0033-8923

The Railway Magazine is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. As of 2010^[update] it has been, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation in the U.K., having a monthly average sale during 2009 of 34,715 (the figure for 2007 being 34,661). It was published by IPC Media until October 2010, with ISSN 0033-8923, and in 2007 won IPC's 'Magazine of the Year' award. From November 2010, The Railway Magazine is now published by Mortons Media Group Ltd. (Mortons of Horncastle).

The Railway Magazine was launched by Joseph Lawrence and ex-railwayman Frank E. Cornwall of Railway Publishing Ltd, who thought there would be an amateur enthusiast market for some of the material they were then publishing in a railway staff magazine, the Railway Herald. They appointed as its first editor a former auctioneer, George Augustus Nokes (1867-1948), who wrote under the pseudonym "G.A. Sekon". He quickly built the magazine circulation to around 25,000. From the start it was produced in Linotype on good-quality paper and well illustrated with photographic halftone and occasional colour lithographic plates.

In 1910, following a dispute with the proprietors, Nokes resigned and started a rival, very similar, magazine, Railway and Travel Monthly. Both this and The Railway Magazine in 1916 were purchased by John Aiton Kay (1883-1949), proprietor of the Railway Gazette, and Nokes's title was renamed Transport and Travel Monthly in 1920 before being amalgamated with The Railway Magazine from January 1923. Apart from this episode, The Railway Magazine had no serious commercial rival in its field until the 1940s. Kay himself served as editor after his predecessor had left for service in World War II. For many years the magazine shared editorial direction with the Railway Gazette, and for periods had officially no editor of its own. From May 1942 to the end of 1949, paper shortages compelled bimonthly publication; in January 1942 there had been a reduction of the page size by a half inch in both dimensions down to 9 in. x 6 in (which lasted until October 1963), though it continued to use art paper for a centre section of photographs, which had begun in January 1934.