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The thundering "iron horse"—the steam locomotive—captured the public's imagination. As it raced across the countryside, the train seemed to shrink distances and accelerate time. The pace of life quickened. Railroads linking scattered communities came to use a more coordinated, more precise kind of time. The locomotive's shrill, punctual whistle joined the church bell in shaping people's sense of time. |
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Pocket watch ordered in 1853 after the August 12th train wreck by the Vermont Central Railroad; by Barraud & Lund, London, for its Boston agent, William Bond & Sons
Gift of Dana J. Blackwell |
Train Wreck
On August 12, 1853, two trains on the Providence & Worcester Railroad were headed toward each other on a single track. The conductor of one train thought there was time to reach the switch to a track to Boston before the approaching train was scheduled to pass through. But the conductor's watch was slow. As his speeding train rounded a blind curve, it collided head-on with the other train—fourteen people were killed. The public was outraged. All over New England, railroads ordered more reliable watches for their conductors and issued stricter rules for running on time.
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