The accommodation train pulled out of the station "on time" according to the Engineer's watch. The Engineer of the accommodation train was given written instructions to let the fast mail train pass at Kipton, Ohio, a small station west of Oberlin. 4 was traveling east on the same track as an accommodation train that was heading west. On April 19, 1891, a mail train known as the No. Standard time was a positive step, but it did nothing to address the accuracy of watches.
The railroads adopted a system of "standard time" in about 1883, 35 years before Congress passed the Standard Time Act (1918) which officially divided the country into four time zones! The Kipton Disaster
#TRAIN POCKET WATCH SERIES#
Amidst all this confusion, faulty timing caused a series of disastrous railroad accidents. There were 50 different "times" in use by the various railroads. had a different time standard, determined by the "sun time" at its particular location, and often monitored by a local jeweler who would would set the town clock. By the mid-1870's, railroads had begun to discuss the need for timekeeping standards.
This made accurate and reliable timepieces an essential tool for the railroaders.
This required that trains passing in opposite directions adhere to carefully scheduled meeting times, where one train would pull onto a siding track and wait for the other train to pass. In the era of single-track railroading, trains were operated in both directions on a single track.