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Retiree Spotlight
End of the Line
Western PA employee will ride his unique hobby into retirement
Western PA District Time and Attendance Control Clerk Richard Phillips is pretty good with his hands. So good, to mark his retirement he took his love of art and woodworking, combined the two, and crafted a spot-on replica of a 19th century steam train constructed purely out of scrap wood, balsa and toothpicks. Phillips wanted to commemorate the last day of his 30-years with the Postal Service by making a special keepsake he appropriately named the “Retirement Express.”
“Making wooden models is a hobby I love. I’ve made trucks and cars for my grandson, the Retirement Express just seemed like the next challenge,” Phillips said. “One day, my boss suggested I craft a train so I learned all I could about them and got to work.” Phillips recent labor of love: a steam engine, tender and passenger car, took two months of painstakingly precise labor to construct. “I guess you could say I’m a bit of a perfectionist.”
His remarkable attention to detail goes beyond the lifelike interior controls and working piston and wheel mechanism. Phillips even gave his locomotive engine the number “1031;” a subtle nod to his last day on the job. With his free time now in abundance, Phillips plans to pursue his hobby as a potential business endeavor. ”I plan to go to craft shows, see what the market is like, and, if I can get some backing, maybe make a go of producing more of these models for sale,” he said.
When Phillips isn’t fastening his carvings into replicas of transportation from days gone by, he enjoys spending time with his family consisting of his wife, Nancy, seven children, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. “It all keeps me plenty busy,” he says. “I’ve had a great career, especially these past three years working with some of the finest people I could ever know.” On his last day, Phillip’s coworkers stopped by his cubicle and wished him well before he pulled out of his Pittsburgh station for one final time.
Western PA TACS Clerk Richard Phillips displays the “Retirement Express.”