Railroaders Museum

The railroad set the clocks. Before 1883, every American town kept its own local time by the sun, and a traveler crossing the country could pass through dozens of them. That November, the railroads simply agreed among themselves to run on 4 standard time zones, and most of the country went along. Congress did not make it law until 1918.

That is a good way to measure how much the railroad changed American life. In 1830 there were only a few miles of track in the country. By 1869 the first transcontinental line was joined at Promontory Summit in Utah, and by 1900 the network reached nearly every county. Towns grew where the track went and withered where it did not.

The photographs on this board show the whole operation. There are locomotives, from early wood burners with huge funnel stacks to the big steam engines of the 1900s. There are train cars, bridges and trestles, and stations, which were often the grandest building in town. There are also the people who did the work, from engineers and firemen to track gangs and station agents.

The printed material is just as lively. Currier & Ives sold hand-colored lithographs of trains rushing through the countryside, and they hung in homes across the country. Railroads printed timetables, schedules and travel posters to sell the scenery along their routes. Theater posters of the period used train wrecks and runaway engines as their big thrills, since a crash on stage was the special effect of its day. Bird's-eye views and maps show how rail lines shaped the layout of towns, and postage stamps later honored the railroad itself.

One thing to notice in the photographs is how much of the railroad was built of wood. Early bridges and trestles were timber, stations were timber, and so were the cars. Fire was a constant danger. Look also at the people posed in front of a new engine or a new depot. A railroad crew photographed with its locomotive was showing off, and you can usually tell.