Morse Code Time Check

[herdebu]

When I sat in the depot in my hometown of Baldwin ND at 11 AM CST the agent received a time check off the telegraph and had to check the official clock noting how many seconds it was offf and if it was off to much it had to be set.  This practice continued when I worked at Harvey and the conductor and engineer had to compare their watch with the official clock noting on the train register how many seconds it was off.  When did this practice end on the railroad and where did the time check come from?

[henry6]

The clock was at the US Naval Obervatory in Maryland and was deemed to be the standard clock of the US for railroads, communicaitons companies, and military.  The tone was sent by Western Union to clocks which subscribed to the service, thus Western Union Clocks.   I believe this ended with the changeover to the Atomic Clock, with fewer subscribers to the Western Union serivce, and, even radio stations (which had automatic time adjustment rather than manual) also got away from using WU.  Elecricity became more reliable (constant 60 cycle) or quartz or other types of clocks came into use and precise time became less and less important except in athletic events.  One of the most unusual moments of time I remember was at a power plant on the St. Lawrence River just inside NY state where there were two side by side identical clocks with sweep hands.  One I believe was set to the WU circuit while the other was direct from the output of the plant to measure and monitor  60 cycles per minute.

 

[Modelcar]

Good question.  I remember reading info on this subject some time ago, but do not remember just where the DP got the "official time".

Now, each one of us can purchase a clock, or wrist watch that is accurate to the second {every day}, via being controlled by radio from the "Atomic Clock" in Colorado.

Have one on my wrist.

[tree68]

I think the two clocks thing is common in places where the power isn't on a larger grid.  When I was in Samoa, I heard they did it there, too.

Nowadays, time sensitive systems often take their cue from GPS.

[Modelcar]

.....I've noticed there is always a few seconds in time difference between GPS time signals....{phone},etc....and clocks / watches governed by the Atomic clock.

But my time pieces always are together...by the second.

[AgentKid]

herdebu

 at 11 AM CST the agent received a time check off the telegraph

Oh Man, do I ever miss that sound, from growing up in a station.

The minute I saw the subject line, I started hearing the pattern in my mind. There was a series of dots and dashes to let everyone know the signal was coming. And then at either 10 or 5 seconds before the hour, I forget which, there was a single dot at each second up to the hour. Much more interesting than the continuous beeps, with a tone every 60 seconds, that you would hear on WWV, Fort Collins, CO, 10,000 kHz Shortwave.

I wish someone could rig up a website with that Morse Code time signal. I would love to hear it one more time.

Bruce

 

[morseman]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC network across Canada) still provides a time signal at one pm daily.It goes something like this announcement    "at the beginning of the long dash , the time will be one pm  daylight saving time"    There will be short dots broacast for about thirty seconds or so then a short pause and then the long dash.

 

[Fox2!]

According to http://www.leapsecond.com/java/gpsclock.htm, GPS time is currently 15 seconds "fast" compared to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time)  (the time broadcast by WWV/WWVH). GPS does not account for the "leap seconds" required to compensate for the slowing of the Earth's rotation compared to civil time.  

[henry6]

Can I assume that "GPS" time is today's Universal standard used by all cell phone companies and internet connections?   It seems that broadcast operations and rail operations use it as a "guide" rather than a "standard".

 

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

WGN Radio in Chicago still has a time chime every hour.  I'm not sure from whom they currently get the time but in the past it was from the Naval Observatory by way of Western Union.

[henry6]

CBS radio has an hourly sound but it is recorded with the news sounder and not a remote pick up.  It is automatically started, I believe, from a clock.

[timz]

Atomic Time started around 1958; each of its seconds was intended to be a constant length, with exactly 86400 seconds a day and the usual number of days per month and year. It has never used leap seconds, so it drifts away from mean solar time.

UTC started circa 1961; until 1972 its seconds varied slightly in length, but since 1972 its seconds have been the same length as atomic time. But it does stop now and then for leap seconds, so it's now 30+? 50+? seconds behind Atomic Time.

As I recall GPS time has never used leap seconds so it's a fixed number of seconds behind? Atomic Time.

In any case, Eastern Standard Time is exactly five hours behind UTC and has nothing to do with the other two.

[operator]

[Deggesty]

I was introduced to WWV in 1946, when most of the information was still sent in International Code. As more and more was sent orally, it was easier for me to know what was sent (I never learned either Morse or International Code, though I played at it from time to time). About 1952, I considered learning Morse, because the idea of working for a railroad appealed to me; however, the local agent's superior told him that he was welcome to teach me, but there would be no learning pay for me.

Just what frequencies are now used by WWV? 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, and 20.0 megs used to be the frequencies. I say "megs" because until about 1960, the term was "kilocycles per second" and not "Hertz" .

[timz]

WWV used to also use 25 MHz-- they quit that one some years ago. Doesn't it still use 15 MHz?

WWV started in 1923; until the 1960s (?) it was based on UT2. They stopped their clock for 0.05 second every month or two to stay close to mean solar time

[Sunnyland]

At the Frisco Lindenwood Yards office where Dad worked, their telegrapher always did a time check daily  at 8 am and he sent a message down the line to stations to make sure everyone agreed.

I never knew where the time check originated.

Mom's father was Frisco conductor and he had to take his pocket watch in every 6 months to a certified RR jeweler to have the watch checked and make sure it was accurate.  He had to get a slip of paper showing it had been checked and I think it had to be turned in at the General Office. 

Time was very important.

 

[henry6]

It is interesting to see all the "different" times the WU time check came through.  And disorienting until you realize that it was sent at 12 noon Eastern Standard Time daily 365 days a year...so time differences for zones and Savings time account for the variety of noted times while it was all and always the same time every day.

[AgentKid]

Sunnyland

their telegrapher always did a time check daily  at 8 am

 

Mom's father was Frisco conductor and he had to take his pocket watch in every 6 months to a certified RR jeweler to have the watch checked and make sure it was accurate.  He had to get a slip of paper showing it had been checked and I think it had to be turned in at the General Office. 

Time was very important.

The first photograph taken of Calgary in August 1883, was of four men standing in front of a portable "boxcar" station that had just been plunked down on the prairie. One of the men was the founder of Calgary's first newspaper, which still publishes, and Calgary's first jeweler. He became the CPR certified jeweler, and his descendants still operate a store here.

What Sunnyland no doubt remembers, and what I meant to get across in my earlier post, was that the time signal sent by RR telegraph was not tones, but clicks. When I go down to Heritage Park, here in Calgary, I will sit in one of the relocated stations and listen to the old timers sending messages, even though I cannot understand Morse Code. The sound of a clicking telegraph is a sound I cannot remember hearing for the first time. It was always just there.

Bruce