Two The of us pooled some of our collectibles to participate in the largest hobby show for model railroaders, in Canada. This is our 25th year of participating in this show. It is primarily for hobbyists who are involved in model trains. We exhibit mostly railroad grade and railroad approved pocket and wrist watches, but we include an occasional non-railroad grade pocket or wrist watch because there is something interesting about it. This year we did an exhibit of Accutron (214 & 218 models), many railroad approved, all running, and set. We also showed two Seth Thomas World railway station clocks. There were 88 pocket watches, with only about 5 that refused to start for us, but everything else running, and on time. The show usually draws about 10 to 12 thousand viewers over the two days.

 

Very cool. I love those Seth Thomas railway clocks.

 

Great collection. Do either of the Seth Thomas regulators belong to you?

 

Two of us own everything in the display. I have two World 15-day Seth Thomas Clocks. The World on the left is one of mine, and the one on the right belongs to my friend who worked with me on the exhibit. Generally, a “regulator” as used by railways would have been a weight-driven model such as a Seth Thomas # 2 or a # 3. A true regulator though, would have been a weight driven Seth Thomas such as a number 17 or number 18, with seconds-beat pendulum. Generally speaking, the regulators would have been used at divisional points (major railroad hubs), and clocks like these Worlds would have been used in way stations, and other remote locations.

 

Thank you for the correction and explanation of the terminology.That is a great World clock you have. I'm guessing that yours is newer than your friend's since it has Arabic numerals? Did the 1893 regulations for watches also apply to clocks?

 

Actually, there is an explanation there, as well. They are about the same age. Neither of these clocks were ever owned by CP Rail. The one on the right has an original Seth Thomas dial. Mine came from a dealer who had removed the original dial, and replaced it with a CP Rail dial from 1969. CP converted from Roman dials to 24-hour Arabic dials in 1969. My other World has the CP Arabic 24-hour dial.