On November 18, 1883, American and Canadian railroads began using four continental time zones to standardize time and reduce confusion for passengers and train operations. Before this momentous change, each city had its own local time based on its longitude, resulting in a chaotic mess of conflicting timetables.

The adoption of the time zones was the brainchild of Sir Sandford Fleming, a Scottish-Canadian engineer and inventor. Fleming had experienced firsthand the difficulties of coordinating train schedules using local times during his work on the Intercolonial Railway in Canada.

In 1879, Fleming proposed a worldwide standard time system at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute. His plan divided the world into 24 time zones, each spanning 15 degrees of longitude and differing by one hour. Despite initial resistance, his idea gained traction, and in 1884, an international conference in Washington, D.C., adopted a version of Fleming's proposal, establishing the Prime Meridian at Greenwich, England.

The implementation of the time zones in North America on November 18, 1883, was a significant milestone in the history of timekeeping and transportation. It not only made train travel more efficient and less confusing but also paved the way for the worldwide adoption of a standardized time system, which has become an integral part of modern life.

Today, we take standardized time zones for granted, but it's important to remember that this now-essential system results from innovative problem-solving and international cooperation in the late 19th century.