TIME MACHINE ... Clock Times Vary On Shore; Local Travel By Stage And Early Rail; Red Sox Players Help After Delmarva Train Wreck; CD's Coming?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every week the TIME MACHINE recalls happenings of times past.

Today and everyday September 11, 2001 remains in our thoughts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





August, 1947

While much of Maryland wasn't returning to Eastern Standard Time until September 29th, Pocomoke City had voted to return to "slow time" at midnight Monday, September 1st. Snow Hill and Berlin were expected to do the same based on an agreement by the mayors of the three towns to stick together on the time change. Salisbury was going to make the change early Tuesday, September 2nd so as to keep an extra hour for the Labor Day weekend, while Ocean City was expected to remain on Daylight Savings Time until September 29th.

Footnote: For many years the state of Virginia remained on Eastern Standard Time all year. In the 1960's when I was living in Pocomoke City and working in Virginia, I'd leave home at 6A.M. and arrive at work at 530A.M! However, when I left work for the 30-minute drive home the time in Pocomoke City would be an hour and a half later when I arrived back.


July, 1856

If you were living on the Eastern Shore in the mid 1850's and wanted to go to Philadelphia here's a connection route according to information in the July 4,1856 edition of the Delaware State Reporter in Dover: The Sea Steamer St. Nicholas leaves Lewes, Del., for Philadelphia every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 5AM. There's a stage route to Lewes from Cherry Stone, Va., via Drummondtown, Horntown, Snow Hill, Berlin, and Millsboro. There's also a stage route from Princess Anne via Salisbury, Laurel ,and Georgetown. For returning from Philadelphia, the steamer leaves the Arch Street Wharf on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7AM.


August, 1884

Opposition by property owners to the construction of The New York, Philadelphia, And Norfolk Railroad near Temperanceville came to a head after several cattle were stuck and killed by a construction engine. As reported by The New York Times: "...a gang of men went to work and tore up several lengths of track near Temperanceville. The next time the construction train came along it ran into the break and was hurled down a deep cut, and the fireman and engineer were so badly injured that their recovery is improbable. The excitement over the event is intense. No arrests were made."


November, 1884

A railroad route from Delmar, Md. to Cape Charles, Va., was put into service by The New York, Philadelphia, and Norfolk Railroad. The line was to travel though Salisbury, Fruitland, Eden, Leretto, Princess Anne, King's Creek, Adelia, Pocomoke, New Church, Hallston, Matompkin, Accomac, Pungoteague, Belle Haven, Bird's Nest, and Eastville. At Cape Charles passengers were to be transferred to fast mail steamers and ferried over to Norfolk where rail connections to other locations could be made. A new steamer under construction would carry rail cars and was planned to be in service in March.


March, 1888

A Pocomoke City man, Mr. Lloyd Wilkinson, won a $72 law suit against the New York, Philadelphia Railroad for illness he attributed to riding in a rail car from Salisbury to Pocomoke without fire in the car. The case was heard in Pocomoke City by Justice Robinson.



TIME MACHINE Mailbox

Thanks to former Pocomoke resident M.W. of Columbia, Md. for contributing the following item this week:

The newest issue of the Keystone - the magazine of the Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Society - has an interesting article about another Eastern Shore train wreck. At about 3:15 in the morning on April 2, 1933, the Northbound Cavalier passenger express derailed in Wyoming Delaware - just south of Dover - killing the engineer and fireman, injuring numerous passengers, and destroying much of the Wyoming Ice and Cold Storage Plant. What makes the story interesting is that the Boston Red Sox baseball team occupied the back 3 Pullman cars of the train. They had played a spring training exhibition game in Norfolk, and were on their way north to Newark for another exhibition game. So they had boarded the train in Norfolk, which was then floated across the train car ferry to Cape Charles, and then North through Delmarva with brief layover in Delmar where the train changed crews. Article gives lots of details about the investigation and determination of cause of crash etc. The Red Sox team players were not injured, but got off the train and helped other passengers and received a lot of praise. The team trainer provided first aid until police and ambulance crews arrived. Just another interesting bit of shore history.



ACROSS THE USA

January, 1981

(The Daily Herold- Chicago)

(Excerpts)

Disc system to give ultimate in sound

Before this year ends, we finally will "hear" the end of the phonograph record as Thomas Edison invented it more than a century ago.

Digital technology could reach the American market place by next Christmas in the form of the first commercially available audio disc and playback system.

The developer of the new disc is Phillips, the Netherlands conglomerate that invented the compact tape cassette in the early 1960's. More than a year ago, Phillips unveiled the Compact Disc, a 4 1/2 inch record designed to be read by laser. Within the past year a prototype player for the disc has been developed through the joint efforts of Phillips and Sony Corp. of Japan.

The Compact Disc offers the best of both the cassette and LP record worlds plus sound quality the likes of which we have never heard in the home. It is also in a format small enough for use in automobiles, boats, and hand-carried portable players.

There is no stylus contacting a groove, so there is no wear, meaning the new discs will last indefinitely.

Word from last fall's Japan Audio Fair, where the Sony proto-type disc player was demonstrated, was that the price of the playback equipment can be kept in the $400 to $500 range.


Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or two or more if you wish. Your name won't be used unless you ask that it be. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!