In 1854 when the Chicago Burlington & Quincy railroad had been
completed in Bureau County, Illinois, David T Nichols was at
Wyanet station when the train was passing through.
Col. C Y Hammond invited him to take a ride to Mendota, which he did
and while on the way, Col. Hammond proposed he should take the
position of Station Agent at Wyanet. His answer was that he knew
nothing of railroading, nor did he care to; however Col. Hammond
prevailedand he accepted the position.

Mr. Nichols spent a half day with the agent from Princeton and then
studied out the remainder with himself. When first appointed agent,
there was no depot and as there were only day trains, he drove into
the station from his farm and in the evening out again. Afterward
he had a boxcar for a depot, until a building was erected.

Once during the Civil War several carloads of soldiers had to be
supplied with tickets and his were all used so he took the power
upon himself to manufacture tickets, sign his name and sell them.
They were accepted by the conductor and afterwards Mr. Nichols
received the compliments of the Superintendent for this procedure.

David T Nichols retired from  the C B & Q railroad
at Wyanet, Illinois in 1893


Source: Wyanet Record    December 22nd 1927
Robert E Jacobs was hired by the C B & Q railroad
as a telegraph operator/leverman in 1945.

Most of his time was spent at the
Birmingham, Missouri depot but during his 9 year
tenure with the C B & Q railroad he also worked
at the following locations:

Callao, Macon, Shelbina, Monroe City, Hunnewell,
Hamilton, Chillicothe, Liberty, Block 222, Lathrop,
Cameron Jct, Kearney, Carrollton
and Browning, Missouri.

Gene left the railroad in 1955, to take a position
with Trans World Airlines in Kansas City.

Background: C B & Q  Block 222     
North Kansas City, Missouri
1948
Edward J Engel was hired in 1872 by the
Chicago Burlington & Quincy railroad as a switch  
tender - brakeman in Wyanet, Illinois. He also worked
at the following C B & Q locations: Mendota and Buda.

He went to the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific in 1875,
where he worked at the following locations:
Marseilles, Ottawa, La Salle, Tiskilwa and Genesco.

In 1878  he was the joint agent of the
C B & Q - C R I & P Junction at Wyanet, sharing
duties with his friend, Samuel Crossett.

E J left the Junction in 1881 to take a position
with the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe railroad in
Halstead, Kansas, then Emporia, Kansas and
finally Argentine, Kansas, in 1883.

Edward J Engel retired from Santa Fe in 1928

Source: A T & S F Railroad News
January 1920
My Present Past
A genealogical experience
Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad
Above:
1945 Burlington Lines Certificate of Examination
Robert E Jacobs     Brookfield, Missouri

Left:
1944-45 Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad
Employee Pass #22608    Hannibal Division
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, the
official name of the Burlington Route, started
from humble beginnings, February 12, 1849 in
Aurora, Illinois. The Aurora Branch Railroad was
laid with secondhand strap iron spiked to 12
miles of wooden rails. On September 2, 1850,
the first train chugged its uncertain way over
six miles from Batavia, Illinois, north to Turner
Junction, and then eastward to Chicago over the
tracks of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad.
The locomotive and cars were borrowed from
the Galena line as their own equipment had not
yet arrived. This allowed the Aurora Branch to
be the second railroad to serve Chicago.

Source: Burlington Route Historical Society
Click on an image to view full size
Below:
Chicago Burlington & Quincy Employee Pass
E J Engel    August 28th, 1881
Wyanet, Illinois to Hopkins, Iowa
Below:
Chicago and Burlington Railroad Line
Mr Nichols 1855
Chicago, Illinois to Wyanet, Illinois

Signed by: C Y Hammond