Keeping Time -
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Keeping Time
Modern wrist watches and clocks often have tiny radio receivers inside which pick up signals from our government’s official time keeper, WWV. We take for granted our computers that function in the world of nanoseconds and know when to change for Daylight Savings Time. It wasn’t always like this.
Before the railroads crossed our nation from east to west and north to south, each community lived on their own time. Folks would look up at the sun and noon was when the sun was highest in the sky. The shortest time unit was the simple heartbeat in one’s own body. Noon was slightly different for every town. But trains needed more careful time keeping.
Trains ran on time tables. They arrived in specific towns at certain times and departed at certain times. Trains going in opposite directions on a single track were expected to meet at specific places at specific times where one train would pull off on a siding while the other passed safely. They couldn’t be late or early. They had to be on time.
Our nation’s time zones were established to accommodate the trains. Many railroad employees were required to have a watch. Each train depot had an official clock keeping time. All the clocks and watches were regularly inspected by an official time inspector who traveled from town to town. Failure to keep time could mean a train wreck.
So, how did all the different depots and railroad workers get their time synchronized? I talked to an old telegrapher who explained it to me. He had worked as a telegraph operator back in the 1930’s. Railroad watches weren’t as accurate as our modern wrist watches and clocks. His own railroad watch would lose a second each night as he slept even though it was adjustable to be sensitive for temperature changes. There were no radio receivers or quartz crystals in the clocks and watches to keep accurate time.
Twice a day, at noon and midnight, the official time keeper at the National Observatory in Washington, D.C. would open a telegraph circuit that was connected to all of the railroads. He would begin to tap out the seconds on the telegraph key five minutes before the top of the hour. Station masters, telegraph operators and railroad workers all over the country would stop to check their time. Five seconds before the top of the hour the official time keeper would stop tapping the seconds. It was as if the entire railroad world was holding its collective breath waiting for the final click of the telegraph sounder which would indicate the exact top of the hour. Everyone would be ready to synchronize their watches and clocks on that last click. With anticipation… Click! Watches and clocks were set and the railroad world could safely move again on their time tables.
Take some time and make some time with your family to visit the 1904 Kingsville Train Depot Museum. Ask about the depot’s official clock.