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Then (1881) and Now (1979), first person account.

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  • Member since
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Posted by CMStPnP on Sunday, November 22, 2020 5:16 PM

There is a link online somewhere to the Library of Congress'  "settlers letters" where you can read folks letters about the arrival of the railroad, riding the railroad and riding the stages.   Also, goes off into tangents of Indian village raids and Civil War, really riveting reading at times and a historical gold mine.    If I find it again I will post.   I'm kicking myself for not book marking it when I found it 3-4 years go.......been lost ever since.

The stages had no seat belts and remember from back then that inside a stage it bounced so much depending on the dirt path that sometimes you would be thrown from your seat into the opposing seat......which I never imagined happening from watching all those old TV Westerns....heh.

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, November 22, 2020 4:55 PM

tree68
 
  1. BaltACD
    Remember - time wasn't even Standardized when she was born

Thomas Edison famously carried two timepieces - one with "standard" time, and one with "sun" time.

A poster on the Deshler railcam chat commented yesterday that it wasn't dark there yet (it was dusk).  I glanced outside and saw that it was fully dark here, and both locales are in the Eastern time zone.

Then there's the story about the youths who somehow managed to set the station clock in Milford, MI ten minutes fast.  A fair amount of confusion ensued as trains showed up at the wrong times and other activities were "off" timewise - at least until someone discovered the error.  A book of local history is entitled "Ten Minutes Ahead of the Rest of the World."

Don't know about the railroad at Milford, MI. 

I believe most if not all railroads that had TT &TO Operations established Standard Time and identified the loction of 'Standard Clocks' in the Employee TT.  All operations employees were required to carry a watch that had been approved by the company and all employees when going on duty were required compare their watch with the Standard Clock and regulate as necessary.

On the B&O a 'time signal' was sent over the telegraph and telephone wires at Noon.  Those charged with maintaining the clock at the TT designated Standard Clock loctions had the responsibility set and/or regulate their clock to Standard Time as transmitted.  For the B&O the time signal was said to originate from the Naval Observatory.  Time keeping for the Navy was critical to navigation; for the railroads it was critical to Timetable operations.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by diningcar on Sunday, November 22, 2020 3:19 PM

Soon to be 89 - my grandfather drove a team of horses with a wagon to go shopping every two weks - about 8 miles. I sometimes rode my horse to school and tied him up on the school grounds. I was with my family visiting Japanese friends on 12-07-1941. This Japanese family petitioned to change their name from Hirano to Hyatt as quickly as possible. We remain family friends. Have seen many things and looking to see many more.

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, November 22, 2020 3:05 PM
  1. BaltACD
    Remember - time wasn't even Standardized when she was born

Thomas Edison famously carried two timepieces - one with "standard" time, and one with "sun" time.

A poster on the Deshler railcam chat commented yesterday that it wasn't dark there yet (it was dusk).  I glanced outside and saw that it was fully dark here, and both locales are in the Eastern time zone.

Then there's the story about the youths who somehow managed to set the station clock in Milford, MI ten minutes fast.  A fair amount of confusion ensued as trains showed up at the wrong times and other activities were "off" timewise - at least until someone discovered the error.  A book of local history is entitled "Ten Minutes Ahead of the Rest of the World."

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Sunday, November 22, 2020 2:13 PM

I used to talk to my mother about these things.  She would comment that she had seen transportation go from horses to get to town, to a rocket to get to the moon.  She said measuring the power of transport in horsepower meant the number of horses you hitched to your carriage.  Most people used only 1 or 2 horsepower, but long distance transport was mostly 4 horsepower, but she had seen one that was 6. 

One of her favorite stories was remembering when she was in gradeschool and if someone heard an airplane, the whole school would go outside to see it... including the principal!  Then, one autumn a plane landed in the field next to the school and taxied up to the building so the pilot could get a drink of water!  He then gave one of the teachers a ride in the plane.  Flew low around the school a couple of times before landing again to let her out before he flew away.  Mom said there was no way she would have gotten in that plane with that strange man, but most everybody else was jealous of the teacher.

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, November 22, 2020 11:10 AM

CMStPnP
Short clip.     Interesting mentions of rail transportation and communication.    Sounds like in the early days the stage lines and railroads didn't really adhere to schedules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEOrb-EtsZg

Remember - time wasn't even Standardized when she was born.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    June 2009
  • From: Dallas, TX
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Then (1881) and Now (1979), first person account.
Posted by CMStPnP on Sunday, November 22, 2020 9:11 AM

Short clip.     Interesting mentions of rail transportation and communication.    Sounds like in the early days the stage lines and railroads didn't really adhere to schedules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEOrb-EtsZg

 

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