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I heard an interesting short piece on National Public Radio (NPR) this morning. Apparently the primary impetus for time zones and standardizing time across the country was the spread of passenger railroads. Watch times varied across very small geographic distances. Trains needed to run on a schedule, so the railroads instituted standardized times and those became standards for the communities to which they traveled. The conductors watch, the railroad watch, being very signifcant and reliable. That eventually forced Congress to establish times zones and standard time across the nation.
That story gave me a smile. As to it's accuracy, well of course I don't care: time means nothing to a child of Woodstock.
Ira
Posts: 300 | From: Denver, CO USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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The history of time zones as you cited is correct. Before the railroads needed a standardized timekeeping system, each locality worked on its own time. Noon was when the sun was directly overhead in your little town.
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
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To take this a little bit further, there have been some TV commercials here in Canada which credit Sir Sanford Fleming (of the CPR) with instituting this.
------------------ Any time could be train time! Ken V.
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To take the story even further, time was also standardised over here in the UK because of the railways! Whether the UK or the USA or Canada came first is probably one of those things that people will argue over 'till the cows come home.
Geoff M.
Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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Not sure about when time standardization began in UK, but in US/Canada it was Nov. 18,1883
" William H. Earle: "November 18, 1883: The Day That Noon Showed Up on Time", Smithsonian magazine, November 1983, pp. 193-208."
One of the main reasons was with single track and no CTC, trains were "head ending" each other with great frequency because on no standard time schedules. The advent of Standard Time meant all Conductors could go by a schedule that was consistant in North America.
Posts: 53 | From: Mahwah, NJ, USA | Registered: Mar 2002
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