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N0KFQ > TODAY 18.11.11 19:09l 45 Lines 1955 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Nov 18
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Sent: 111118/1759Z 14115@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.0.4
Nov 18, 1883:
Railroads create the first time zones
At exactly noon on this day, American and Canadian railroads
begin using four continental time zones to end the confusion of
dealing with thousands of local times. The bold move was
emblematic of the power shared by the railroad companies.
The need for continental time zones stemmed directly from the
problems of moving passengers and freight over the thousands of
miles of rail line that covered North America by the 1880s. Since
human beings had first begun keeping track of time, they set
their clocks to the local movement of the sun. Even as late as
the 1880s, most towns in the U.S. had their own local time,
generally based on "high noon," or the time when the sun was at
its highest point in the sky. As railroads began to shrink the
travel time between cities from days or months to mere hours,
however, these local times became a scheduling nightmare.
Railroad timetables in major cities listed dozens of different
arrival and departure times for the same train, each linked to a
different local time zone.
Efficient rail transportation demanded a more uniform
time-keeping system. Rather than turning to the federal
governments of the United States and Canada to create a North
American system of time zones, the powerful railroad companies
took it upon themselves to create a new time code system. The
companies agreed to divide the continent into four time zones;
the dividing lines adopted were very close to the ones we still
use today.
Most Americans and Canadians quickly embraced their new time
zones, since railroads were often their lifeblood and main link
with the rest of the world. However, it was not until 1918 that
Congress officially adopted the railroad time zones and put them
under the supervision of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
73, K.O. n0kfq
Another old retired guy
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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