"Taking Twenty with the Virginian Brethren"

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Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with 11 of the
Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway, on the eve of the
seventh anniversary of the terrorist's attack on our Nation. We talked
about it a little and I reminded the Brethren about the nationwide move
to get everyone to fly Old Glory today in remembrance. To my
surprise, most of the Brethren already fly our colors daily! I should
have known...

I passed around a 1959 Roanoke FW Woolworth Coca Cola menu of
their sandwiches and "fountain treats" that a friend gave me.
This "bill de faire" spotlighted "for a real treat" a deluxe Virginia
Ham sandwich for 40 cents. Of course several of the Brethren showed
our waitress this menu and "ordered from it". My favorite item listed
was the 15 cent slice of three layer chocolate cake that I remember
getting there as a lad. This menu prompted Rufus Wingfield to tell
about having a girl friend who worked in Kress's (pre WalMart) downtown
and about every day he would visit her and ask for a dimes worth of
Penny candy. She would proceed to give him "about a dollars worth".

Also passed was a 1967 Roanoke Sandlot Baseball yearbook that my
favorite antique dealer had for me last Saturday. The Brethren got a
kick out of seeing my photo as a coach on the "Paul Coffey" 1966
Champion Little League team. The surprise of the night was when Rufus
Wingfield found his youngest son Kenney's photo with the Grandin Court
Baptist Minor League Team. Kenny now works for the FBI.

Probably the most discussion of the night was from the viewing of
Bill McClure and Jeremy Plant's "Virginian Railway in Color" book that
Landon brought back to me from our Architect on the VGN Station
Project. This book was used to correct some of the "railroad items"
depicted in the rendering of the inside of the Station. I had
presented this book so the draftsmen could use actual Virginian Railway
photos as reference instead of "generic" railroad scenes chosen.
Cornbread spotted himself on page 59; he's the one wearing the
railroad cap in the upper photo.

Ruf talked about poker being a popular past time at the Yard
Office and mentioned a B. Turner loosing two paychecks in a row playing
it. When his wife complained to the Superintendent, the poker was
stopped..."actually just slowed down a little" Ruf remarked. Landon
Gregory told all about his new car and the "global positioning device"
that he hasn't quite figured out yet. Someone commented "does that mean
your car knows where it is, even though you don't?" Ken McLain brought
several jokes, but none made it through the censor.

I asked Cornbread if the Virginian Railway ever gave
employees "personal days". He pondered and then answered "Yes they
did. If you were lucky enough to have the weekend off, they were
called 'Saturday and Sunday'".

Time to pull the pin on this one.

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon



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