- Local time
- 3:19 AM
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2012
- Messages
- 19,499
- Reaction score
- 41,060
- Location
- Surrey, B.C. Canada
I had posted this a few days ago and now I can't find it anywhere. So here goes again...
Communication between yard personnel, control tower, train crews and rail traffic control are all routinely managed with radio these days, and have been for quite some time. But before that was common, precise railroad schedules had to be adhered to to make sure that trains were where they were supposed to be and not colliding with each other. Once a set of instructions was given to a train crew, they were out of reach until they reached the next station.
With that in mind, keeping track of the exact time was critical so railroad employees needed better than average watches. Here's a quote from the 1962 revision of the Uniform Code of Operating Rules.
"Each conductor, engineman, trainman, fireman,
yard foreman, yardman, and such other employees
as the company may direct, must carry, while on duty,
a reliable railway-grade watch approved by the proper
authority and for which there must be a prescribed
certificate on file with the designated railway officer.
Employees required to use railway-grade watches
must, unless otherwise directed, submit them to
a designated watch inspector for examination and
record at intervals not exceeding ninety days."
Prior to 1964, that meant carrying a pocket watch - heavy, reliable and sturdy. After January 1964, wristwatches were allowed, but there were only a couple of brands that were authorized. Here's an old advertisement for one such...note where it states "APPROVED BY CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAYS".
Communication between yard personnel, control tower, train crews and rail traffic control are all routinely managed with radio these days, and have been for quite some time. But before that was common, precise railroad schedules had to be adhered to to make sure that trains were where they were supposed to be and not colliding with each other. Once a set of instructions was given to a train crew, they were out of reach until they reached the next station.
With that in mind, keeping track of the exact time was critical so railroad employees needed better than average watches. Here's a quote from the 1962 revision of the Uniform Code of Operating Rules.
"Each conductor, engineman, trainman, fireman,
yard foreman, yardman, and such other employees
as the company may direct, must carry, while on duty,
a reliable railway-grade watch approved by the proper
authority and for which there must be a prescribed
certificate on file with the designated railway officer.
Employees required to use railway-grade watches
must, unless otherwise directed, submit them to
a designated watch inspector for examination and
record at intervals not exceeding ninety days."
Prior to 1964, that meant carrying a pocket watch - heavy, reliable and sturdy. After January 1964, wristwatches were allowed, but there were only a couple of brands that were authorized. Here's an old advertisement for one such...note where it states "APPROVED BY CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAYS".
