Union Pacific Railroad 24-Hour Time

[Larry Treiman]

Kent, I read with great interest your wiki article on dials and the mention that the UPRR adopted 24-hour time in 1886. The wiki link (sounds like a sausage) to the "Railway Conductors' Monthly" article and UPRR "General Order No. 42" was especially interesting.

Has anything ever turned up that would indicate that the 24-hour time system actually took hold and lasted on the UPRR for any significant period of time? I'd be surprised if it did.

Larry Treiman

[Kent]

Hi Larry:

The only indication that the UP used the 24 hour system for any length rather tenuous. It consists of two watches, that fit the mid-to-late 1880s timeframe, whose dials bear the private label "Albert J. Stark."

The first dial has 1-24 hours numbered (and takes 24 hours for one complete circle of the hour hand), is additionaly marked "Denver, Colo." and is on an Elgin B.W. Raymond serial number 2,125,244 (See pages 72-73 of the February 2004 NAWCC Bulletin).

The second dial is a typical "Canadian-style" dial having 1-12 Roman hour figures and an inner circle of 13-24 Arabic hour figures. It is additionaly marked "Denver." The dial is on E. Howard watch serial number 301,207 (See page 351 of the June 2004 NAWCC Bulletin).

The book Railroad Watch Inspectors, Greg Frauenhoff (http://mb.nawcc.org/showwiki.php?title=Frauenhoff+Greg), Sedalia, CO, 2000, shows that an A. J. Stark of Denver, CO was a watch inspector for the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in 1889. Although no documentation has come to light that Stark was also a watch inspector for the UP, there is a possibility that he was insofar as most watch inspectors served more than one railroad. As I said at the beginning, the connection is tenuous.

[Larry Treiman]

Thanks, Kent,
that's more than I expected! Now, if only some similarly dialed RR std. watches turn up that are marked Omaha or Salt Lake City or Ogden, well.......

Larry

[Jeff Hess]

any pics of the UP dial?

i am meeting with UP VP's next week and could use this info.
thanks.

Pm or email or open channel.

thanks!

Jeff

[Kent]

Jeff:

The dials aren't marked UP, just Albert J. Stark, Denver. Pictures appeared in the Bulletin issues cited.