page_title: Casey Jones
section_title: Service at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893
hierarchical_section_title: Casey Jones / Service at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Das einzige Bild das Casey auf seiner MAschine zeigt.
context_page_description: Jonathan Luther "Casey" Jones from Jackson, Tennessee, was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi.
  Jones was a locomotive engineer for Illinois Central, based in Memphis, Tenn, and Jackson, Miss. He was noted for his exceptionally punctual schedules, which sometimes required a degree of risk, though this was not a factor on his fatal last journey. However, there is some disagreement about the sequence of events on that night, 29–30 April 1900.
  He was due to run the southbound passenger service from Memphis to Canton, Miss., departing 11.35pm. Owing to engineer absence, he had to take over another service through the day, which may have deprived him of sleep. He eventually departed 75 minutes late, but was confident of making up the time, with the powerful ten-wheeler Engine No. 382, known as "Cannonball".
  Approaching Vaughan at high speed, he was unaware that three trains were occupying the station, one of them broken down and directly on his line. Some claim that he ignored a flagman signalling to him, though this person may have been out of sight on a tight bend, or obscured by fog.
context_section_description: During the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, Illinois, in 1893, IC was charged with providing commuter service for the thousands of visitors to the fairground. A call was sent out for trainmen who wanted to work there. Jones answered it, spending a pleasant summer there with his wife. He shuttled many people from Van Buren Street to Jackson Park during the exposition. It was his first experience as an engineer in passenger service and he liked it.
  At the fair (also called The Chicago World's Fair), he became acquainted with No. 638, a big new freight engine IC had on display as the latest and greatest technological advancement in trains. It had eight drive wheels and two pilot wheels, a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type. At the closing of the fair, No. 638 was due to be sent to Water Valley for service in the Jackson District. Jones asked for permission to drive the engine back to Water Valley. His request was approved, and No. 638 ran its first 589 miles (948 km) with Jones at the throttle to Water Valley. Jones liked No. 638 and liked working in the Jackson District because his family was there. They had once moved to Water Valley, but returned to Jackson, which they felt was home.
  Jones drove the engine until he transferred to Memphis in February 1900. No. 638 stayed in Water Valley. That year he drove the engine that became most closely associated with him, for one time. That was Engine No. 382, known affectionately as "Ole 382.", or "Cannonball". It was a steam-driven Rogers 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" with six drivers, each approximately six feet (1.8 m) high. Bought new in 1898 from the Rogers Locomotive Works, it was a very powerful engine for the time. When a potential disaster arose, all of Jones's skill and the engine's responsiveness were put to the greatest test.
  His regular fireman on No. 638 was his close friend, John Wesley McKinnie, with whom he worked exclusively from about 1897 until he went to the passenger run out of Memphis. There he worked with his next and last fireman, Simeon T. "Sim" Webb in 1900.
caption: Casey Jones in cab of No.638 in 1898
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