The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-10-25
Standard Railway Time


Railroad trains in this country are at
present run on fifty-three different standard
times. That is TO say, to ensure connections
between trains running in different sections
OF the country allowances must be made for
dfty-three different local times. Obviously
the running of trains under the present
system is very complex. A few years age
DR.. Hill suggested a plan by which this
work might be greatly simplitied. This plan
mas recently been adopted by the railroads
and will soon be put in execution By it
the number of standard times is reduced
from fifty-three to four. In England all
trains are run on Greenwich time, the mar
rowness of the country making the selection
of single meridian practicable. The great
breadth of the United States, nearly go de-
grees OF longitude, renders it impracticable
to run trains in this country on the time of
single meridian, but an approximation suffi-
GENTLY near to uniformity for all practical
purposes is ensured by the system recently
adopted.
Under this system the country is divided
into four divisions: Eastern, Central, Noun
tain and Western. The standard for the
Eastern division will be the time of the sew
enty-fifth meridian west from Greenwich,
which passes very nearly through PhiIa-
delphia. The standard of the Central d.
vision will be the time of the ninetieth me-
rldian which passes through St Louis. The
standard of the Mountain division will be
the time of the 105th meridian which passes
through Denver The standard of the Wes
tern division is TIE time of the 10th merid-
ian which passes through the Yosemite
Valley.
II will be noticed that the time of the me-
ridian of the Eastern division is just five
hours slower than Greenwich time, and as
there are just fifteen degrees of longitude,
or one twenty-fourth of the circumference
of the earth, between the standard meridians,
the standard time of each division will
be one hour slower than that Of
the one Immediately East of it. The
minute hands of the clocks in
the different divisions will always agree,
and the corrections will therefore be exceed
ingly simple. Thus train to leave St.
Louis at l0:45 a. m. will start just as the
railroad clock in the Eastern division marks
11:45. As the width of each division is just
fifteen degrees, and the meridian passing
through it's center is made the standard, the
difference between the standard time of the
division and the local time of any point in
it cannot exceed thirty minutes.
The question OF changing local clocks TO
conform to the railway standard Is already
exciting discussion. Boston has decided to
make the change, and SO has Brunswick.
The question is not SO important on this side
the meridian as ON the other. On this side
the mean local time will always be faster
than railway time, so that if our clocks are
not changed and the proper allo vance is not
made, the only inconvenience will be short
period of waiting at the depot. On the 9TH
or side of the meridian the case is different.
There the local time will be slower than
railway, and neglect to make the proper al
lowance will result in getting left. The
variation between the local time and the
railroad time is so slight, however, that no
serious Inconvenience can result in chang
ing the clocks. At Portland the clock will
be set back only IS minutes and SO seconds
to conform to the railway standard. This
change is SO small that if it were made
without notice, the most of us, we are IN
clined to think, would never find it out