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Railroaders checked their timepieces against designated "standard
clocks". These were clearly marked, and are sometimes visible in train
station photos.

This New York Central rulebook from the early 1900s says their source of
time was telegraphic signals from "the Washington, D.C. observatory"
every noon.

http://books.google.com/books?id=2pspAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA23

Nowadays watches have declined in importance. Train dispatching is more
like air traffic control than the old method of timetables. The
dispatcher has radio communication with the crews, sees their trains on
his "radar scope", and can operate switches and signals by remote control.

My 1996 CSX railroad rule book says, "CSX Standard Time is equivalent to
United States Eastern Time Zone time. CSX Standard Time will use the 24
hour clock system." [In the old days they used A.M. and P.M.]

"Designated employees must compare standard clocks daily. They must be
compared with the chief train dispatcher's office or the train
dispatcher. A standard clock that differes from standard time by more
than 10 seconds must be reset to standard time.

"Unless assigned to offices having standard clocks, employees governed
by the timetable, while on duty, must carry a watch that indicates
hours, minutes, and seconds. The watch must not lose nor gain more than
one minute in a 12-hour period."

The old business of watch inspectors and railroad approved watches is
history. Employees are merely required to verify their watches are
within 30 seconds of a standard clock before starting work.


A lot of info on railroad standard clocks can be found at various Web sites:

http://www.google.com/search?q=railroad+%22standard+clock%22&btnG=Search&hl=en&gbv=1

Several sites mention the book "Selling the True Time" by Bartky. It's
an interesting read.

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