He was a nephew of Sir William Cubitt, under whom he was engaged on the South Eastern and Great Northern railways, and probably learnt his trade there.
[1] He succeeded William Snell Chauncy, who had resigned the engineership of the line under a cloud as the work on the railway pier had proven useless.
He can also be credited with the first locomotive in the Australian colonies when he attached a pile driving steam engine to one of the heavy railway trucks, to assist in construction of the line.
[citation needed] Moore established a sugar plantation from about 1870 at a property he called "Jesswoolgan", near Alstonville, about 16 kilometres (10 miles) east of Lismore.
[citation needed] James Moore died at his home in South Lismore on 19 November 1887 of diabetes, leaving a wife and adult children.