 Each town in the United States had its own time, depending on when the noonday sun was directly overhead. Here's American popular science author Steven Johnson. So you know what it's like taking a train ride today. You can kick back, read a book, listen to some music. But imagine what it would have been like in 1870 trying to take a train. Let's say we're traveling from New Haven to New York. And so I get on the train at 12 o'clock New Haven time.