Fwd: [VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts] "Taking Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren

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--
Skip Salmon

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To: VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts at yahoogroups.com
From: "Charles E. Salmon, Jr." <gkholine at cox.net>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:44:24 -0000
Subject: [VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts] "Taking Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren

Last night I had the pleasure of "Taking Twenty" with nine of
the Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We signed two
Happy Birthday cards. One was for Keith Sowder, who just turned 81.
Keith was a clerk on the VGN and understood the seniority lists so
well that after the merger in 1959, he worked almost 24/7 to
intergrate the VGN-N&W crews into the new system. The other birthday
was Frank Breedlove, who is 75. Frank was a brakeman and conductor
on the VGN.

The talk of the night was the road trip last Saturday to the
Ninth Street facilities of the Roanoke Chapter NRHS and rides on
their caboose. Raymond East was especially impressed at the controls
of the Chapter's Alco T-6 #41, and EMD GP30 #522. Both were running
and Raymond "relived" his "W" assignment as an engineer on both
classes. Dewey Houch, who started out on the VGN as a surveyor, was
impressed with the rolling stock in the Chapter's Yard. I brought
photos for those who could not make the event and have posted a
couple on this site under "Skip's Photos". Jeff Sanders brought his
VGN "Safety First" sign for the special rides. Eddy Mooneyham, VP of
the Chapter, and engineer on the Buckingham Branch, was our
engineer. He also displayed several artifacts, including a VGN steam
whistle for the Brethren to see.

Also passed around was the latest N&W (and VGN) Historical
Society "The Arrow" which highlights N&W Alco RS36s and the recent
convention in Marion, Ohio. The Brethren especially enjoyed seeing
that Steve Summers won the convention's model contest in
the "Favorite Train" catagory. It was an all Virginian train with a
Trainmaster pulling G-4 gondolas and a VGN caboose.

The Brethren also discussed the days news from Norfolk Southern
that the Elliston (Kumis-Lafayette) sight is now officially chosen
for the new intermodal link to the NS Heartland Corridor project.
This new facility is projected to add about 3,000 new jobs for the
area.

Also a photo of the new "Zoo-Choo" at the Mill Mountain Zoo in
Roanoke was shown. It is a new miniature train, donated by Norfolk
Southern, that will carry kids around the zoo on the mountain near
the big Star. The locomotive is the F series type and the tuscan
train looks a lot like the new NS Executive one. The old N&W train
that was on the mountain will soon provide rides at the Virginia
Museum of Transportation in Roanoke.

In response to an email from one of this site's members, Delbert
Whitlow, I asked the Brethren if they knew any of the VGN personel
mentioned. The only one they knew was Harry "Cab" Reed, conductor.
Bob Rowland said the he remembered calling him for road assignments.
Cornbread said that he worked with another famous VGN conductor Major
Wood. He recalled once Major and "Cub" were cooking on their cab
and "somehow got the corn meal mixed up with the flour and ruined the
gravy".

Raymond East and some friends recently went fishing on Smith
Mountain Lake and brought home a "mess" . Raymond's wife was not too
happy with the smell and used up all of her air freshoners before
they got all the fish into the kitchen. Cornbread arrived about this
time as was heard commenting: "Smells like a fish died and all of
his friends sent flowers".

Time to pull the pin on this one.

Departing Now at V248,

Skip Salmon



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