James Phillips
Censured for not seeing that switch was right and derailing engine No. 6 on track 20 at 51st St. Yard (Chicago), Sept. 27th, 1889.
SOURCE: P. 203, Chicago & Erie Railroad Employment Summary Book, ledger book covering @ 1880-1905. Donated to this site courtesy of Nick Pappas. Transcription by Jim Sponholz (c) 2007.
From the July, 1907 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine (Chicago 51st St. News):
Engineer Jim Phillips who has been laid up with rheumatism for some time, is back at work again.
From the November, 1918 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine (Chicago 51st St. News):
Jim Phillips, one of the old reliable engineers, is confined to his home undergoing an operation on his knee. We hope he will be among us soon.
From the January, 1931 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine:
Back in 1880, when the Chicago & Atlantic, now the Marion Division of the Erie, was laying the first rail for its first track into Chicago, James Phillips was a young man having but a short time previously passed his 19th birthday. One of the necessities of the new terminal was an enginehouse and in helping to erect it Jim made a connection with the railroad that lasted the remainder of his life.
After the enginehouse was completed, Jim's enthusiasm for railroad work won him the position of engine hostler. Looking to the future he immediately started to qualify for locomotive service, being accepted as locomotive fireman on July 1, 1882. During this period things moved fast and when on December 6, 1887, his opportunity to become engineer came, he was ready for it, serving actively in that capacity up until a few weeks before his death on October 28, 1930.
Jim outlived the roundhouse that he helped build, it having been dismantled many years ago and replaced with one capable of housing and caring for the present-day locomotives. It was Jim's rare experience to operate and learn the intricacies of not only the earliest locomotives with which the Chicago Terminal was equipped but also those of the present day.
Jim was one of the steadfast workers comprising that band of Chicago & Atlantic veterans and his absence is going to be keenly felt, not only by the employes with whom he worked but by the officers who found in Jim qualities of earnestness and loyalty in abundance.