![]() Though initially hesitant to expand to Nebraska, by 1868 The Burlington company saw it as a business opportunity after Charles Elliott Perkin, who would later become President of the Burlington Railroad, gave it a glowing review. The Union Pacific Railroad cut through Nebraska, pursuing a transcontinental railroad which passed through the country more so than branching to connect cities with one another. Though the Union Pacific Headquarters currently resides in Omaha, the Burlington was more involved with the cities growth. Omaha’s history can be traced back to railroads. (White, 2011) Timetables were a game changer for businesses and individuals alike. In 1883, the United States officially standardized railroad time amongst all operating railroad companies, and people and businesses began to informally use it as a standard. Having more than one time in a town also became inconvenient. (White, 2011) This allowed passengers to manage their time around a specific line, however it became inefficient when more than one train had to be taken. ![]() Initially the time chosen was up to company, for example in 1871 the Central Pacific Railroad specified their timetable operated on Sacramento time, where its headquarters resided. Thus, the railroads implemented their own times and created timetables with them. A time difference between cities was longer plausible as it would mean confusion and inefficiency for the railroad and those who invested in it. Likewise, smaller towns grew into large cities by exporting their abundant good to other locations and gaining capital. Resources once inaccessible to some towns were now easily shipped. Railroad became an important mode of transport of goods and people. When railroads were introduced, traffic between cities increased and transit time shrunk. A fifteen-minute difference in time was not important if the time to travel to the area was measured in days. The most striking issues was how slow and unreliable these methods of transport were. These methods were not the most trust worthy and limited growth of cities to what they in their radius for the most part. The main methods of transport in the 1800s were by boat through rivers and canals, or by carriage. ![]() (Schivelbusch, 1941) This system of localized time fared well prior to railroad due to the lack of travel and the long travel time between them. For example, London ran 4 minutes ahead of Reading, and 7 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of Cirencester, and a whole 15 minutes ahead of Bridgewater. Towns prior to the railroad were limited in the amount of resources they had and had their own “temporal identities”. ![]() Time is precious, and prior to the timetable there was no unified way of managing it. As railroads expanded the timetables were a means to unify how the country experienced time. The condensed pamphlets of arrivals and departures established a means of organizing time across the expanses the railroads covered. More importantly, the railroads brought with them timetables. People and goods were transported to the far reaches of countries. As intricate networks of railroads stretched across countries around the world, they introduced an era where distances were easily conquerable. It was America’s first-time keeper, and changed how people around the world considered travel. The railroad timetable annihilated time and space.
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