William Frederick Allen was born on October 9, 1846 in Bordentown, New Jersey, United States. He was the son of Joseph Warner and Sarah (Norcross) Allen. His father, a civil engineer, was drowned off Hatteras Inlet, January 15, 1862, on the Burnside expedition, in command of his regiment, the 9th New Jersey Volunteers.
Allen was educated at the Bordentown Model School and at the Protestant Episcopal Academy at Philadelphia.
In 1862 Allen became a rodman on the civil-engineering force of the Camden & Amboy Railroad, was made assistant engineer in 1863, and served as resident engineer from 1868 to 1872.
In October 1872 he became a member of the staff of the Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines, and remained until his death with the company that published it, acting as president after 1914. This connection brought him in contact with many railroad men and with many forms of railroad activity. In those days every railroad fixed the time of its train schedules as it chose, usually taking it from that of its home city or the most important town on its line. Over fifty different standards were in use, with much resulting confusion. Beginning in 1872, various efforts had been made to arrange time schedules for through trains from one system to another. In that year, a General Time Convention had been organized, and in 1877 a Southern Railway Time Convention began to serve the southern roads. From 1875 until his death Allen acted as secretary and treasurer of the General Time Convention and of the American Railway Association, formed later by the consolidation of the two Conventions. In 1881 the organization referred to him the problem of standardization of time, and as a result of his report submitted on April 11, 1883, the fifty differing systems melted into four at high noon on November 18, 1883. Various schemes of standardization had been suggested by others before this, and these earlier efforts undoubtedly influenced the final plan. The difference between them and Allen's suggestion lay in the fact that they usually assumed adoption of meridians an even hour apart, while Allen adapted and adjusted his points of change to the territory in question. His scheme was practical, rather than theoretical, with the advantage of suggestion by a man perfectly acquainted with the difficulties to be overcome, the means to be used, conditions to be met, and the point of view of the railroad operating man.
In 1904 he edited a Short History of Standard Time and Its Adoption in North America in 1883.
Allen was a member of the permanent commission of the International Railway Congress.
Allen was noted for his zeal wisdom, integrity, echnical knowledge and administrative ability.
Quotes from others about the person
"Allen is the guy who brought chronological order out of chaos in this country. In 1881 Allen was tasked with making sense out of the hodgepodge of 50 existing railroad time standards, which caused not just irritating but deadly confusion as trains supposedly running at different times simultaneously found themselves on the same stretch of track. On Nov. 18, 1883, Allen's system of four east-west time zones went into effect, and since then everyone has known what time it is. " - Hank Burchard in the Washington Post, January 21, 2000
On April 20, 1871, Allen was married to Caroline Yorke of Salem, New Jersey, by whom he had four sons.
