On November 18, 1883 American and Canadian Railroads created our current time zones: Eastern Time, Central Time, Mountain Time and Pacific Time. Before that each city and place had its own time based on when the sun was at its zenith in that particualr place. Even cities as close as Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts, which are about 50 miles apart, had different times. As our railroads became a national system that was indreasingly cahotic so the railroads got together and decided they would use time zones. Many people were outraged that mere corporations should be so arrogant as to interfere with “God’s time.” Politicians spoke out against it and clergymen preached sermons against it. Ultimately logic prevailed. Many years later the United States Government ratified the railroads’ decision and even religious organizations generaly go along with “Railroad time.”
You do not HAVE to use Railroad Time. But if you want to catch a train…
And a little later, people starting using the passage of the passenger trains to set their clocks to that railroad time.
You are absolutely right, Lion. I could have a surveyor come in and make a noon mark on one of my windowsills and set all of my clocks by it. But I could not use it to catch a train or ride a bus or go to a movie or attend a religious service.
You too are right, Bucyrus. The trains even reminded people incarcerated at Folsom Prison what time it was.
As late as the First World War some communities still refused to use railroad time. I think the war finally put that to rest.
Even more recently, in the last 10 years or so, parts of Indiana chose to adhere to Standard time and not Savings time because of their reliance on Chicago. In fact, at certain times of the year, it was possible to have 4 times being in effect at the same time in the State: Eastern Standard, Eastern Daylight Savings, Central Standard, and Central Daylight Savings depending on where you lived.
I don’t think it was referred to as railroad time after WWI simply because Congress instituted the first Daylight Savings Time (which wasn’t made “permanent” until the end of WWII and has had its changeover dates changed several times since.
OK trival fans. — name any RR stations that had clocks with 2 different times ---------
Any and all stations in Chicago, IL, Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis, and other select cities in Indiana. Also, Denver and other stops along any of the time zone lines.
Thomas Edison reportedly carried a watch with both “railroad” and “sun” time displayed on it.
The Catskills Archive website has a scan of an article from the April 1878 issue of Harper’s about the “Electric Time Service”, which covered the mid-Atlantic states. It was tied into the telegraph network and provided time accurate to better than a second, where the time was kept by observing stars in a transit telescope. Many communities had a “time ball” that was mounted on a pole and dropped at 12 Noon.
- Erik
Picture in the June or July 1980 Trains, the article on dispatching on the Rock Island. One dispatcher handled the main line from Des Moines, IA to Limon, CO, plus related branch lines. This territory extended over two time zones and had two clocks. One for Central, one for Mountain, with Goodland KS being the dividing point between them.
Recently I was reading a discussion about watches with two hour hands used by men who lived in one time zone, but the work location was in the adjoining one. The railroads would have the time zone divide at a division point, which may not be where the actual time zones change. (Using the above RI line as an example, Goodland KS wasn’t the place where the time zones actually changed. The actual time zone line was roughly half way between Goodland and Phillipsburg KS the next division point to the east.) On the particular watch being talked about, one hour hand was black, the other red to help the owner remember which hand was for which zone.
Jeff
Dodge City, Kansas, was, for most of a century, a division/crew change point on Santa Fe’s “passenger Transcon” (Super Chief, El Capitan, et al). “Dodge” was/is located on the 100th meridian, making it a point of intrinsic geographic interest. Santa Fe (and the other railroads, in the decision noted above) used the 100th Meridian as the “natural” dividing line between the Central and Mountain time zones.
At Dodge, the change in time zones was made dramatically visible by the construction of side-by-side sun dials at the Santa Fe station, each showing the “sun time” for its respective time zone. They were clearly visible from the streamliners at the 3 minute pause for crew change. Fred Harvey even printed postcards of the dials:
http://www.cardcow.com/245024/santa-fe-sun-dials-dodge-city-kansas/
The sun dials have been beautifully restored as part of the over-all restoration of the station and Harvey House. If you are visiting Boot Hill, take the time to visit the station and take in the dials.
(A further bit of history: “During the day of western expansion, it [100th meridian] was thought to be a natural line between east and west in terms of geography and climate. When Thomas Jefferson initiated the Louisiana Purchase from France, the south and west boundaries were either poorly defined or were also claimed by Spain. The Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain established the intersection of the 100th Meridian and the Arkansas River (now in south Dodge) as a corner of the boundary between the United States and Spain. Later the 100th Meridian in this area was the west boundary of the Osage Indian Lands.” (http://www.santafetrailresearch.com/research/100th-meridian-marker.html)
(As with other states “divided” by time zones, there have been shifts from the railroad-defined time z
Here is the “mising link” to the post card:
http://www.cardcow.com/245024/santa-fe-sun-dials-dodge-city-kansas/
It was most of Indiana that stayed on Eastern Standard Time year round. Only a few counties around Chicago and a few around Louisville followed the timekeeping of the major metropolitan areas across state lines.
It was New York and the stock and commodoty markets there that were more important to the state, otherwise, Indiana would be on Central Time where we geographically belong, not Eastern.
We were not alone. Arizona and Hawaii also chose not to monkey with their clocks twice a year for no good reason. Hawaii I can understand, as it is closer to the equator, so the amount of daylight stays more constant year around.
Westbound Union Pacific passenger trains arrived in North Plattte, Nebraska on Central Time but departed on Mountain Time. Eastbounds arrived on Mountain Time and departed on Central Time.
Just to clarify: the railroad likely used the same time from Boston to Providence to New Haven and maybe on to New York. The NY Central used NY time all the way to Buffalo; the Pennsylvania used Philadelphia time from NY to Pittsburgh. Between Pittsburgh/Buffalo and Chicago most? all? RRs used Columbus time-- dunno if Ohio had passed a law about that.
Sir Sanford Fleming, a Scots born Canadian, known as the “Father of Standard Time” is credited with the worldwide adoption of Standard Time, A few railroads in North America adopted a system using only 5 time zones in the U.S. Some railroads used it, some did not, a very interesting read is the full adoption of Standard Time not only in North America, but the rest of the world. Read about the confusion before Standard Time was accepted.
Standard Time: not to be confused with Daylight Saving Time.
Here in the east we still do that, Erik In Manhattan at Times Square on New Year’s Eve. A ball falls at exactly midnight. You can actually go by train to Times Square and see it yourself. My wife and I have done it. If you visit at New Year you can see it too.
But when is it exactly midnight? When the ball is released or when it hits the bottom?