Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In a message dated 9/16/00 2:59:11 AM Eastern Daylight Time, tdschofield@email.msn.com writes: << I think the certification program was to avoid train collisions, and came into being, with requirements of approved and periodically recerrtified movements, after a train accident was attributed to an engineer's bad or broken watch. >> Correct. On April 19, 1891, a crash occurred near Elyria, Ohio, about 25 miles from Cleveland. Both engineers and nine others were killed in a high speed head-on train collision. On one of the trains, the engineer's watch had stopped completely for a period of four minutes. The conductor's watch was correct, but the engineer had not compared time with him. Both railroads were just about ruined financially, and the US Post Office sustained serious losses as well. A federal commission was set up to investigate, and standards for railroad timekeeping were developed. Joe Sobel