Trains have always run on a fixed schedule - more or less. Early schedules, however, were much less rigid than in later years. Allowances were made for repairs and for unscheduled stops-particularly if the train passed through good hunting country, or if a trout stream ran near the right of way. 

Many an early trainmaster's report was turned in listing "breakdown" or "cows on the track" for a late arrival, when "first day of fishing season" would have been more accurate