Railroaders' Nostalgia > Here's to you, Preacher Bill!

Bill was his first name and I don't have a prayer of remembering his last name. Even though he was in good physical shape, he had to be in his 50s. Probably pushing 60 at the time the story takes place in the fall of 1974. So the odds are he is now long departed. Hopefully to the promised land, but that's not for me to judge. I only knew Preacher Bill for about a month, and I'll never forget him.

In my 10+ years aboard TO I have written about, or at least mentioned my 32 year (1978 ~ 2010) career in train & yard service a gazillion times. It's been a great source for stories & anecdotes. And in addition to many fond memories, my RR career also got me & my camera into numerous places that the average railfan could never touch. But this was not my first actual stint in RR employment. Read on:

In April of 1974 I was a year out of high school, working for a pine tree farmer near Alta Vista, KS. When a co-worker found out I was a Santa Fe nut he told me I should go down and hire on with them. He said it was the right time of the year. I took him up on the idea, and headed for Emporia. I officially became a track laborer for Santa Fe's Eastern Division, and was sent to a spot outside of Argentine ( https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?18,3806955,3806955#msg-3806955 ). I spent the summer of '74 toting ties & driving spikes. I toned up into the best shape I've ever been in during my entire 65 years (66 next month). But I was also in those hopelessly passionate years, dating and falling in love with my high school sweetheart. She was my future wife, and my even more in the future ex-wife. So my week days spent memorizing the smell of creosote were punctuated by madcap, 2 hour dashes home for the weekend. After a summer of love-sick 'distance frustration' I looked into an idea, and transferred over to the Middle Division in order to work closer to Manhattan. The closest spot they could place me was Concordia, about 90" from Manhattan. Ironically the week of the transfer my Eastern Division extra gang was moved to Emporia, only about 70" from Manhattan. Go figure...

My "new" gang had a cast of characters that might have made a Saturday Night Live gag-writer blush, were it not still a year in the future. My snarky foreman and his close compatriot had names that will be withheld here, to protect the blatantly guilty. They were both crooks who tried to steal as much as they could from the Santa Fe in the way of "spare" materials. This thievery included work time! On Fridays they would get in one or the other's truck, loaded with their latest haul and head for home 1-2 hours early. But the rest of us were admonished to keep working until quittin' time. And we did.

Which brings us around to "Preacher Bill"! He was an older member of this new gang I was attached to and he was one-of-a-kind! Bill seemed to be a quiet mannered man who would lean on his shovel almost as much as he worked it. Supposedly he once really was a preacher who had sort of careened into a fork-in-the-road situation with the Good Book. No details were ever divulged. It was just some quiet & respectful lore about him the from amongst the other guys. I never heard the man cuss. But with a constant, rascally-looking grin on his reddish face Bill always seemed on the verge of letting loose with some sort of ribald tale. He never talked a lot about his personal life, unless it was to describe some women from his indistinct past. And then his eyes would gleam. He did very much appreciate the "finer points" of the feminine figure. This was especially bourne out one afternoon when our gang was wandering around in our work truck, killing time. Quitting time was a ways off, and we were in the vicinity of Aurora, KS on the Strong City District. Which happened to be Bill's hometown. I don't remember who made the suggestion, but we ended up going into town and parking in front of a 'certain establishment' right on Main St. And we entered this establishment. We'll get back to that in a minute...

I have a sketchy memory of that establishment being on the north side of Main St in downtown Aurora. Today there is an open and very busy looking bar right across the street on the south side. But I'm using this image of Aurora City Hall because my hazy memory instinct tells me this was the building in question from that day. And I seem to remember walking up a few steps to enter the place. There's no telling how many changes can take place in small town USA in 47 years!

Anyhow, back to 1974: At 19 I was so naïve I thought since we were still on duty we were all going in to have soft drinks, which I did. Heh heh heh. Most of the other guys had beer. When the older, but rather attractive lady behind the bar asked Bill if he was going to have "his usual" he winked & smiled, saying you bet! She reached below the bar and produced a bottle of some dark amber-looking liquid and mixed it into a iced glass with a can of Coke. That's when I realized we were not only in a bar while still on Santa Fe time, but I was witnessing the highly illegal act of selling hard liquor in a beer bar. While she fixed up his drink Preacher Bill let loose with some absolutely 1st class schmooze on her. I happened to be sitting next to him, and was getting quite an eduaction. And I was sure my face was turning as red as his was in normal times. About half way through his drink he turned to me and said something like: "...if you don't say anything about this I'll buy you one". I sheepishly declined, but assured him I wouldn't spill any beans. The rest of the afternoon went off with no further adventures. We concluded our pit stop and headed back to Concordia, just in time to quit and go home. Unfortunately, in 1974 I hadn't yet discovered I could actually pick up a camera and shoot the RR scene. Otherwise I might have at least had some kind of picture of the guys I worked with, including the Preacher himself.

I never forgot that interlude! And when I entered train service in 1978 I always thought I should find my way up to Aurora, locate Bill and have that drink with him! I never did, of course...

1. Aurora, KS City Hall, which just might have been our pitstop location back in 1974...
Photo date: April 28, 2021.

Here's to you Bill, next round's on me!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

2 more links to even more story-telling from Concordia, KS:
( https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?18,3793460,3793460#msg-3793460 ).
( https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?18,4452664,4452664#msg-4452664 ).

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Great story !! Always enjoy your stories.

I was up there on a work train, once up on a time. And we did stop and eat at a bar in Aurora, probably the only place in town. And when I think about it a little, it would have been the place on the south side, mid 80's I'd guess. On Google, it looks like it's still there, and called The Broken Arrow Saloon.

While I remember your ex-wife, I certainly didn't realize you had worked MIddle Div. as a gandie. I always thought you had been in the Argintine/ Turner area doing track. 
DAF