The roots of the Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation are planted deep in the 19th Century, though the company's present structure did not begin to take shape until 1908. That came about with the merger of two powerful railroad journals: The Railroad Gazette (founded 1856) and The Railway Age (1876). Two officers of The Gazette financed the consolidation and gave the new company its name: E. A. Simmons, The Gazette's vice president-advertising, and William H. Boardman, its editor.

Today, Simmons-Boardman is the diversified provider of periodicals, books, learning materials, and other services primarily, though not exclusively, related to the transportation and banking industries. While some of the company's magazines have diminished in size in recent years, along with the industries they serve, their quality has never been compromised and they are widely perceived to be the leaders in their fields. The sheer longevity of most Simmons-Boardman publications commands respect even from their rivals.

Always a closely held company, Simmons-Boardman for the last half-century has been owned and controlled by a single family, that of the late Arthur J. McGinnis, Sr. In 1940, Mr. McGinnis, not long out of the Harvard Business School, went to work for Simmons-Boardman as an associate editor of Railway Age. He gradually bought up the company's stock, and by the early 1960s owned a controlling interest.

The current head of the company is Arthur J. McGinnis Jr., whose first job with the company was as an office boy in 1963. He is now chairman and president of the McGinnis Corporation, a holding company, and its subsidiary, the Simmnons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. Other senior officers include Pat McGinnis, a co-owner and director; Robert P. DeMarco, senior vice president and Railway Group Publisher; and Allen Morrell, controller.

The company maintains its headquarters in New York City. It also has substantial editorial and sales operations in Chicago, Ill., Omaha, Neb., and Falmouth, England.

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Simmons-Boardman's principal business is the publication of six monthly trade magazines, with related operations that offers additional information resources to the industries the company serves.

Railway Age, the surviving title of the 1908 merger, has long been regarded as the company's flagship publication. It is published out of the New York office. Now in its 129th year of publication, Railway Age is believed to be the world's oldest continuously published transportation trade magazine. (An ancestor, the American Railroad Journal, printed its first issue in 1832.)

The Railway Group has two other periodicals. Railway Track & Structures, established in 1904, is based in Chicago. International Railway Journal, which the company founded in 1963 is published out of the U.K. for a worldwide readership.

Marine Log, which traces its history to 1878, is published for the marine industry out of the New York office.

Simmons-Boardman's youngest publication, Sign Builder Illustrated, is also based in New York. Established in 1994 by an entrepreneur in North Carolina, and acquired by Simmons-Boardman in 2000. Sign Builder has editorial offices in North Carolina. The company's sixth monthly is the prestigious ABA Banking Journal, which it produces for the American Bankers Association. ABA Bank Director's Briefing, a newsletter, is also part of this division.

A separate division based in Omaha, Nebraska, operates the Railway Educational Bureau (REB) and Simmons-Boardman Books under the direction of Pat Kentner. REB has for nearly 100 years provided a variety of highly structured learning aids to railroad management, technical, and operating staff. Its companion operation, SB Books, produces reference works, some of which are of encyclopedic scope, as well as books reflecting the specialized interests of the company's other divisions.

For a number of years the company has operated conferences targeted at the specialized information needs of its readers and customers. In 1990, a Conference division was created, headed by Jane Poterala.

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ABA Banking Journal is the company's largest publication, circulating around 31,500 copies in a universe of around 8,000 banks. Approximately 95% of its subscribers are senior and middle level managers at commercial banks. The electronic revolution had led to high new levels of efficiency at financial institutions. A wave of mergers has also helped to raise productivity with the result that there are fewer buyers for products and services of companies that advertise in ABA Banking Journal and its competitive publications.