This publication was established in 1875 by Willard H. Smith, a lawyer in St. Louis. It was continued three years and then expired. Subsequently it was revived by D. McArthur (formerly connected with the Trade Journal), who is its present publisher; F.H. Bacon is editor. The Railway Register is published weekly, and is devoted to railway, manufacturing, and kindred interests. There had been previous attempts at railway journalism (one was the Illustrated Railway News, published by W, Conkling, which lasted two or three years), but the Railway Register is the only successful experiment of the kind.
(From the History of St. Louis City and County by John Thomas Scharf, 1883).