Down below the question was asked about standard time and time zones. The thread ended up talking about railroad watches and inspection.

In my collection I have a book prepared in 1903 and it is entitled "Standard Time in North America: 1883-1903." On a second title sheet is enscribed "Short History of Standard Time and its Adoption in North America in 1883, by W. F. Allen, Secretary American Railway Association and Manager Official Railway Quide, New York City."

The book has a disciptive text and then transcriptions of letters supporting the account that is written in the book. The accounting given includes the following:

"The system of Standard Time which was adopted in this country in 1883 has now been used successfully for twenty years, and it appears quite improbable that it will eve be replaced by any othr method of time-reckoning. Certainly at the present date there is no demand for a change, either on the part of the railway companies or the public.

"The history of the movement by which this reform in time-reckoning was brought about in 1883 has many interesting featuresm but is hardly known to the generation which has grown up in the past twenty years. It is recorded in Volume I of the Proceedings of the American Railway Association. The contents of this book cover the history of that organziation and its predecessors from 1875 to 1893, with references to anterior meetings. Its predecessors were called "The General Time Convention" and "The Southern Railway Time Convention," which united and formed the present organization. For convenience, the work of these bodies is spoken of hereafter as that of the Associations."

****

The text goes on and explains that one of the first proponent of setting time by the merdians was presented by a Mr. Dowd in 1869. Mr. Dowd and others, who came to the idea independently, pushed for this concept over the next years. But it was not until 1883 that the mamagers of 78,000 miles of railroads agreed to put the plan into use. So by "the stroke of the clock at high noon on Novemember 18, 1883, fifty different stadards of time resolved themselves simultaneously into four, while the minute hands of watches and clocks were reset at all points to the same minute mark on the dial."

*****

"Since the adoption of the system int he United States, its use has been extended to many other parts of the earth. In every country in Europe, except France and Russia, railway and local locks are regulated by the time of eaither the Greenwich meridian or by that of merdians differing exactly one hour or two hours therefrom. South Africa, Austalia, Japan, the Philippine islands and Porto Rico also base their time-reconing upon differing by even hours from that of Greenwich."

So you see the concept was first proposed back in 1869 but it was not implemented until 1883.

Hope this helps.

Brian Norden

bnorden49@earthlink.net

1869 is right, as far as the proposition of setting time by the meridians is concerned. The earliest concern of railroads and time that I am aware of goes back as early as 1834. By that time, the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company (predecessor of Southern Railway) was attempting to compensate for the variation between the local times at Charleston and Hamburg, South Carolina. They were one of the first railroads to adopt the practice of using the local time of their headquarters city as the standard time for the railroad. They were one of the first railroads to confront this concern as they were the longest railroad in the world at that time, having a main line 134 miles long.

awalker2002@comcast.net

The General Time Convention was formed by the American Railroads in the early 1870s for the express purpose of developing and adopting time zones. This later became the Master Car Builders Association (MCB), which became the Amercian Railway Engineering Association (ARA), which in turn has become the AAR.

The General Managers' Association became the National Carriers' Conference.

I wanted to thank everyone for the detailed information about time zones and time keeping, in response to my sister's original question. You gave her way more than she wanted to know, but I found it, and continue to find it fascinating.

B&O Museum Donation Site
hkading@rypn.org

> The General Time Convention . . . later became the
> Master Car Builders Association (MCB), which
> became the Amercian Railway Engineering
> Association (ARA), which in turn has become
> the AAR.

The ARA (American Railway Association) is the successor to the General Time Convention and predecessor of the AAR.

The American Railway Engineering Association (AREA) was founded in 1900 as an organization for members of the (Civil) Engineering departments of the railways. Today, after merging with the Roadmasters, Bridge and Building and Communications and Signals associations, it is known as AREMA (American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-way Association).



pnichol6@prodigy.net

> The book has a disciptive text and then
> transcriptions of letters supporting the
> account that is written in the book.

Upon closer looking at the letters transcribed in the book, it seems some of them take exception to part of the account. Several of the writers state that they do not recall Mr. Dowd.

More power to Mr. Allen for including the voices that both recall parts of his account and at the same time noted disagreement.

Brian Norden

bnorden49@earthlink.net