AtDTDA (2): 30 Railroad Watch

[Robert Mahnke]

As I recall, this history is a topic of discussion in Rebecca Solnit's River
Of Shadows, which I believe I previously recommended on this list.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Dave Monroe
Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 3:49 PM
To: mhayes at asiaaccess.net.th
Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: AtDTDA (2): 30 Railroad Watch

Interestingly, the standard timekeeping system related to this
arrangement of time zones was made official in the United States by an
Act of Congress in March 1918, some 34 years following the agreement
reached at the international conference. In an earlier decision
prompted by their own interests and by pressures for a standard
timekeeping system from the scientific community - meteorologists,
geophysicists and astronomers - the U.S. railroad industry anticipated
the international accord when they implemented a "Standard Railway
Time System" on November 18, 1883. This Standard Railway Time, adopted
by most cities, was the subject of much local controversy for nearly a
decade following its inception. . . .