flotsam and jetsam

djgagnon:

#Montreal #McGill #cdnhistory
Grand Trunk Railway, circa 1910
from: Grand Trunk Railway System, Operating Rules and General Regulations, circa 1910.
Having the correct time on the railway was a very serious business. With its head office in Montreal, the Grand Trunk transmitted the correct time daily via its telegraph circuits using the automated process described.
Then, at crew change points (at about 100 mile intervals across Canada), telegraph operators noted the deviation of their local wind-up ‘Regulator’ wall clock … from the standard time transmitted … and posted that deviation beside the clock.
Crews coming on duty set their wind-up railway grade pocket watches to the correct standard time - based on the wall clock reading and the deviation sign. A crew’s engineer and conductor usually compared watches to ensure they were synchronized … as they were physically separated and had no means of communicating verbally once the train was in motion.
In the middle of the Canadian bush, far from electricity, huge metal machines sped toward each other on single tracks.
On each train, the pocket-size mechanical time measurement machines held by two workers, were used to avoid collisions, loss of life and significant financial loss to the railway.

#Montreal #McGill #cdnhistory

Grand Trunk Railway, circa 1910

from: Grand Trunk Railway System, Operating Rules and General Regulations, circa 1910.

Having the correct time on the railway was a very serious business. With its head office in Montreal, the Grand Trunk transmitted the correct time daily via its telegraph circuits using the automated process described.

Then, at crew change points (at about 100 mile intervals across Canada), telegraph operators noted the deviation of their local wind-up ‘Regulator’ wall clock … from the standard time transmitted … and posted that deviation beside the clock.

Crews coming on duty set their wind-up railway grade pocket watches to the correct standard time - based on the wall clock reading and the deviation sign. A crew’s engineer and conductor usually compared watches to ensure they were synchronized … as they were physically separated and had no means of communicating verbally once the train was in motion.

In the middle of the Canadian bush, far from electricity, huge metal machines sped toward each other on single tracks.

On each train, the pocket-size mechanical time measurement machines held by two workers, were used to avoid collisions, loss of life and significant financial loss to the railway.

(via fuckyeahquebec)

7 months ago 13 notes