Nostalgia & History > Remembering UP Conductor W.E. Geiger

A conductor friend of mine, Walt Geiger Jr., has
shared with me some negatives of his late Father
when he was working as a young brakeman on the UP
Kansas Division.

1) Mr. Geiger was working Topeka to Marysville Mixed #187
in the late 1940s. At the Frankfort, KS stop, he snapped
this photo. The person in the white blouse on the platform
in the distance is Walt Jr.'s Mom, who was the Frankfort
Depot Agent for many years. An unknown eastbound freight
waits in the siding as #187 does its station work.

2) The UP Junction City to Concordia, KS Branch was protected
by the Kansas City Trainmen and Enginemen as an outlying job.
The UP had their own line from Junction City to Clay Center.
At Clay Center, the original line from Clay Center to
Belleville was abandoned in 1934. After that, the UP used
the old LK&W from Clay Center to Miltonvale and ran on the
Santa Fe (Present day Strong City Sub) from Miltonvale to
Concordia. Mixed Service was provided in the form of
Mixed Nos. 175-176 carring a combine. Mr. Geiger is shown
by the Miltonvale depot when working the Mixed.

3) Here is Mr. Geiger on the rear of the combine. Note the
tail hose.

I worked with Mr. Geiger when I was running in the
KC-Marysville Pool in the early 70s. After I moved
to Salina, I remember him coming into Salina when he
worked the KC-Salina Pool.
Mr. Geiger was most famous for his perfect rendition of
the BBC Broadcasts during WWII by Winston Churchill.
He had memorized most of the broadcasts and would come
on the radio and do a segment as he left town on #118.
You would swear that Winston Churchill was on that train!
We used hand signs back then and the radio channel was
not cluttered with chatter as it is today.

Mr. Geiger passed away about 10 years ago. I'm glad I
knew the man.

Thanks for looking and listening.

Bob Helling
PRose



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/10 12:33 by PRose.

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Thanks for sharing this, Bob - a piece of now gone and almost forgotten railroading.

Lee Hower

Many of those "Winston Churchill broadcasts" on BBC in WWII were read by a soundalike actor as well.

You have given us another "Oscar" performance. Thanks to you and your friend. wag216

Enjoyed the information and the photos. I can't say that I remember W. E. Geiger when his train went through Wakefield on that branch U.P. line, but I sure spent a lot of time around the railroad station in that little town watching the unloading of less-than-carload freight and an occasional departing or arriving passenger or two.

..........Vince

Great pictures and a great narative, Bob! I love to get old heads talking about stories they have. There are alot of them that have some great stories! Thanks for sharing!