On July 1, 1935, Earl Anderson began his first day on the job as a worker in the Great Northern Railway’s depot in Rutland, North Dakota, by hanging a 5 foot tall pendulum powered Howard wall clock on the west wall of the depot’s office, just to the left of the ticket window. The clock had been shipped out to Rutland from Willmar MN, where it had kept time at the Great Northern’s Division Headquarters for many years prior. Howard wall clocks and Hamilton pocket watches kept America’s railroads running on time, back in that era when trains ran on schedules measured in minutes and hours rather than weeks and months. Every railroad wall clock, and every railroadman’s pocket watch had to be inspected, and its accuracy certified, on a regular basis. Every day, every station agent at every depot on the Great Northern’s system, set the depot wall clock at precisely the same time, by a signal sent out over the telegraph that arrived at the speed of light. The clock that Earl Anderson hung on the wall in the Rutland depot back in 1935 stayed in place until 1971, following the merger of the GN, NP and CB&Q Railroads that created the Burlington Northern. The new management of the BN decided that pendulum wall clocks had to be replaced with electric wall clocks, and instructions were sent out to take the old Howard clock to the landfill. Earl Anderson was, at that time, the agent at the Rutland depot, and he offered to buy the clock that had been his first project back in 1935 from the BN. His offer was accepted. The clock needed a cleaning, and Junior Taylor of Havana, an amateur clock repairman, accomplished that task. The clock hung on the wall at the Anderson residence until Earl’s widow, Irene, sold the house in 1997. At that time, it was moved to Anderson Law Office at 316 First Street in Rutland where, by agreement of Irene Anderson and her 4 children, Harvey Anderson, Bill Anderson, Patricia Kulzer and Paul Anderson, the clock would remain until the Law Office was moved or closed. On Tuesday, August 12, 2014, the old Howard wall clock went back to its first home in Rutland, the Rutland depot, now situated on Main Street and the headquarters of the Rutland Depot Museum complex. Ron Narum, Paul Anderson and Bill Anderson reinstalled the clock on the office wall, this time just to the right of the ticket window. Visitors to the Rutland Depot Museum will be able to take a look at the old clock whenever they stop in. It’s not running right now, though, so it’s only accurate twice a day, not often enough to run a railroad. Well, the way railroads run these days, maybe it is. Also now on display at the Rutland Depot Museum is the old nail scale from the Rutland Hardware Store. This scale was in the Rutland Hardware Store when that business was acquired by Carl Franzen nearly a century ago. It weighed nails, fish, pheasants, babies and nearly everything else that required weighing in Rutland for Franzen Hardware, Kulzer Hardware, Flados Hardware, Hoflen Garage, H & K Farm Supply, Kulzer Brothers Farm Supply and Kulzer Farm Supply until 2003, when Norbert & Beverly Kulzer retired and sold the assets of their business. Bill Anderson and Kathy Brakke bought the scale, and it was on display in Bill’s office, representing “The Scales of Justice,” until Tuesday, August 12, when it, too, made the trip to the Rutland Depot Museum, along with the Howard wall clock. So, 2 new old items on display for visitors at the Rutland Depot Museum. Stop in and take a look. You’ll be amazed and pleased at what you find there.