A few weeks ago, Kevin Keefe wrote about the discontinuance of the Official Guide in one of his blog postings. I saw it just recently and had to pen a reponse, since I am very familiar with the Guide, in collecting past issues and using them for research purposes for a number of decades. The following is what I wrote:
I think there is some confusion about the demise of the Official Railway Guide. The passenger edition of the Official Railway Guide was published 1974-1995. It is the freight edition of the Official Guide that has been discontinued, with most contents of the Official Railway Guide being folded into the Pocket List of Railroad Officials, another IHS Markit publication, effective second quarter 2020.
This does not lessen the need to pay tribute to The Official Guide of the Railways and Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico [sic], Canada, Mexico, and Cuba.
If one was to distill the essence of the Official Guide, it can be considered akin to a paper database of railroad industry information that was published monthly. Known as The Traveler’s Official Guide of the Railways until June 1900, a Moody’s 1901 ad describes the contents of the Official Guide:
"The Standard Reference Book used by all railway officials