NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Railroad Time
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2014 Mar 2, 11:04 -0800
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2014 Mar 2, 11:04 -0800
As a lifelong railroad enthusiast, I can state that the conductor of the train was the person in charge. All other railroad employees on that particular train were under his command.
Not sure how that may have changed recently, with the dropping of the caboose "office" off freight trains. These days train crews may be just the engineer, the fireman (assistant engineer, no more coal to shovel) and a single brakeman/switchman, all in the cab of the locomotive.
Enjoying this thread, although I wish we would get back to how people syncronized their watches in the 19th century. I suspect it was by telegraphed time signals, but I have no proof.
Not sure how that may have changed recently, with the dropping of the caboose "office" off freight trains. These days train crews may be just the engineer, the fireman (assistant engineer, no more coal to shovel) and a single brakeman/switchman, all in the cab of the locomotive.
Enjoying this thread, although I wish we would get back to how people syncronized their watches in the 19th century. I suspect it was by telegraphed time signals, but I have no proof.
From: Don E. Bray <debray1@mac.com>
To: luabel@ymail.com
Sent: Sunday, March 2, 2014 10:56 AM
Subject: [NavList] Re: Railroad Time
Further on the question about the Station Master's role here. Neither my father nor the conductors would go to the Station Master for a time check. Not sure where he got his time, but my recollection is the operation of the trains was based on the watches of the engineer and the conductor.What was the role of the engineer and conductor? Never was totally clear. The conductor was the business man of the crew and I don't think that he had any responsibility in the operation of the train, i.e. departure and arrival. That was the responsibility of the Engineer, I think.Don************************************** Kepler finds 674 Earth size planets http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Kepler-Mission-Hits-3500-Candidates-230867391.html New images from Japan at http://benbray.com/ Don E. Bray Mail P. O. Box 10315, College Station, Texas 77842-0315 Office/Cellular 979-492-9534 Faith in science http://debclltx.com/
On Mar 02, 2014, at 12:01 PM, "Don E. Bray" <debray1---.com> wrote:Happy to elaborate, based on my memory. No, I never saw the Master Inspector. There were designated jewelers at each place where the terminals were located (i.e. where the crews tied up) who were contracted with the railroad to maintain their large pendulum clocks. Who owned the clocks, interesting, but I'll bet that the jeweler owned it, as part of his package that he used to support his designation as the official railroad watch repair store.I find no exception to the attached telegraph time article.My father carried a Hamilton B. W. Raymond pocket watch (I have it, but it is in the bank box, probably 21 jewels). His wrist watch was the same, Hamilton B. W. Raymond. He felt particular allegiance to this brand. Apparently, Elgin also made B. W. Raymond designated watches. The faces were distinguishable and I think that was what made one watch preferred over another, the ease of reading the right time under poor lighting conditions, i. e. in the locomotive cab. Wish that I could remember when he got a wrist watch; it was a big deal, and 1975 is about right.These watches had special mechanisms which freed the hands from the mechanism with a small lever. This was so that they could be easily rotated to adjust to the time; no movement if the winding knob for this.He never listened to the radio broadcast of time signals since his card had to be signed by the watch inspector. I picked up on WWV out of Fort Collins early on.Good memories.Don************************************** Kepler finds 674 Earth size planets http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Kepler-Mission-Hits-3500-Candidates-230867391.html New images from Japan at http://benbray.com/ Don E. Bray Mail P. O. Box 10315, College Station, Texas 77842-0315 Office/Cellular 979-492-9534 Faith in science http://debclltx.com/
On Mar 02, 2014, at 10:31 AM, Mike Mayer <mwmayer{at}tds.net> wrote:Here’s an article about time synchronization via telegraph:==================================================================Mike MayerFrom: NavList@fer3.com [mailto:NavList@fer3.com] On Behalf Of Brad Morris
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2014 11:21 PM
To: mwmayer{at}tds.net
Subject: [NavList] Re: Railroad TimeHi DonI realize it was a long time ago, and you were a young boy by your own admission, but I hope we can squeeze a few more details out of you! Its okay if you don't remember or you weren't privy to the info.You mentioned an Inspector who traveled around with a master clock. Did you ever see that master clock? Did they transfer that time to a station master clock? And then from the station to the conductors?When you said "he could compare" his watch to the master clock, I assume you meant your dad. Could you explain a bit more how he did that comparison?BradOn Mar 1, 2014 10:52 PM, "Don E. Bray" <debray1---.com> wrote:I can shed some light on this since my father was a railroad engineer (driver, to the UK folks).When I was a small boy in East Texas in the early 40's, I remember going down to the jewelry store in our town when he was home and comparing his pocket watch to the large standard pendulum clock on the wall. The link to standard time was the inspector who traveled up and down the railroad with his standard watch. The railroads had extensive private telephone/telegraph networks and I expect that he could periodically compare his watch with the standard railroad clock. My father got his first wrist watch in the '50's, I think.On time performance was important to all railroad personnel.Thanks for prompting this flash beck.Don Bray**************************************Kepler finds 674 Earth size planetshttp://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Kepler-Mission-Hits-3500-Candidates-230867391.htmlNew images from Japan at http://benbray.com/Don E. BrayMail P. O. Box 10315, College Station, Texas 77842-0315Office/Cellular 979-492-9534Faith in science http://debclltx.com/
On Mar 01, 2014, at 09:01 PM, Norm Goldblatt <ngold---.net> wrote:How interesting. Of course, this begs the question, but what about Church Bells? Big Ben? Maybe it was more important to be locally in sync with your townspeople than to be absolutely correct.Norm
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