Railway Timing Systems.

Greenwich time is the basis upon which all the British railways operate. Across the Channel various timing systems are in force, all based upon Greenwich. These include West European Time, the same as Greenwich; Amsterdam Time, 20 minutes ahead of Greenwich; Central European Time, one hour ahead of Greenwich; and Eastern European Time, two hours ahead of Greenwich. These standard railway times are especially interesting, because it is just fifty years since the world of railways put its time in order. Sir Sandford Fleming, a Canadian railway manager, was the pioneer of standardised timing. He planned to divide the earth up into twenty-four zones, with a standard meridian as the centre of each, in which time would always be uniform. To-day, as one journeys round the world, the clock is conveniently advanced or retarded one hour as the passage is made from zone to zone.

Practically all the countries of the European mainland work to the 24-hour clock. In Britain, the old a.m. and p.m. arrangement persists, but there is a movement on foot to adopt the 24-hour clock, and this would undoubtedly simplify time-table arrangement and prove a convenience to the travelling public.