Bob Galey returns to the Railroad....for a day of memories!

The fellow in the red ball cap on this "Iron Horse" diesel is the son of the cowboy atop a horse at the very top of this website.

Standing on the front of the old diesel with other C&NW railroad veterans, 82-year-old Bob Galey is still farming east of Whitney on the same place his parents, Tom and Eva Galey, leased and farmed until Tom died in 1958.  That's Tom Galey, Sr. on the horse.  And while Bob's three brothers – Tom, Bud, and Gary – pursued careers elsewhere, Bob remained on the farm, eventually marrying Naomi Sibert of Crawford and buying the farm.  And that's where they raised their daughters, Brenda and Linda.  

Bob's older brother, Tom, made a career as a Navy SeaBee and retired with his family to Lubbock, Texas, where he died in 2006.  A younger brother, Bud, was a true cowboy and worked in the Nebraska Sandhills, providing for his family as a ranch foreman until his death in 1996.  Another younger brother, Gary, served a stint in the Navy before settling in Crawford, Nebraska, where he raised his family while working and then retiring from Kansas-Nebraska Natural Gas Company and operating a grocery store for several years.  Younger sister, Margaret Galey, who worked many years at Chadron State College, is retired and lives in Lansing, Michigan.  Younger sister, Karen Miller,  retired after working as a Medical School secretary in Pennsylvania and now lives in Spearfish, South Dakota.  You'll find other bits and pieces of information about the family elsewhere on this website.

Despite maintaining and expanding the farm, Bob Galey also had others jobs over the years.  Perhaps the most important one was working for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway in Chadron.  Working as a Machinist's Helper beginning in 1969, he toiled in the old roundhouse the better share of 20 years until  his retirement from C&NW in 1989.

When the Chicago & Northwestern Historical Society decided to hold their annual meeting in Rapid City, they elected to spend one day in Chadron, visiting the old roundhouse and the Dawes County Museum.  About a dozen or so "old-timers" were recruited to host the conference attendees, answering questions they might have about the place they all worked many years ago.

Other railroaders in the roundhouse photograph above (left-to-right) are:  Tom Pfister, Bing Decker, Neal Soester, Bob Galey, Vince Hill, and Jay Loghry.

While at the museum, Bob also re-visited the Galey Family tile  (shown at left) commemorating their support of the Dawes County Museum when it was under construction.  "Selling" tiles to be exhibited on the museum floor – and some on the walls – was one of many fundraising initiatives shortly after the museum moved to its present location south of Chadron.  Click on the photo to take a closer look.