Cleveland Abbe
In order to compile his information, Abbe required a time-keeping system that was consistent among the stations. To accomplish this he divided the United States into four standard time zones. He published, in 1879, a paper titled "Report on Standard Time". In 1883, he convinced North American railroad companies to adopt his time-zone system. In 1884, Britain, which had already adopted its own standard time system for England, Scotland, and Wales, helped gather international consent for global time. In time, the American government, influenced in part by his 1879 paper, adopted the time-zone system.
Time in Norway
It was not until 1885 the first suggestions came to introduce standard time in Norway, but this met great opposition by influencing groups and locally in the districts of Norway. The most complicated of four propositions was to divide Norway into 5 time zones 15 minutes apart. But none of them was accepted. In 1893 the time issue emerged again, and since the last time, the neighbouring countries Sweden and Denmark had adopted standard time, so also Germany (Central European time). In Norway, the railways in western and eastern Norway would be connected in a few years, and now the proposition to adapt to Central European was widely accepted. Hence, one standard time was introduced January 1., 1895 and has since then remained Greenwich + 1 (Central European time). On this date church clocks was either moved backward (east of 15°E), or forward (west of 15°E), except for Hadsel and Steigen parishes that continued with their local time as their churches lie almost on the 15°E meridian. The local time continued to live on for quite some time, especially in rural communities, where both the local and standard time were in use (the latter being referred to as "railway time").