"Taking Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren

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Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with nine of the Brethren 
and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We signed a Happy Birthday Card for 
Harry Bundy, who worked with some of the Brethren at Tidewater Junction and 
Coleman Place as an operator for the Old Norfolk Southern. Harry later 
worked with us as a System's Engineer for the N&W and New Norfolk Southern. 
Harry turned 71 on Tuesday. His dry sense of humor and recall of detailed 
past events keep us informed and entertained, when he is able to make it 
through the "Orange Avenue 500" safely on Wednesday nights from Bonsack, VA.

Landon Gregory and I passed on to the Brethren our experiences last week 
end during the N&W (and VGN) Historical Society's Roanoke Convention. The 
Virginian Railway was remembered in many ways at the Convention, from the 
excellent VGN MW cars modeled by Bill McClure to Frank Bongiovanni's 
Clinics "Introduction to Virginian Modeling" and "High Capacity Coal Gons". 
John Munson gave us a detailed Clinic about the buildings in the Mullens 
Motor Barn Complex. Dal Cook, our T-Shirt Man, sold many colorful VGN 
T-Shirts and the Commissary sales included lots of VGN related books. On 
Saturday, over 100 of the Conventioneers rode the two Roanoke Chapter NRHS 
trains in service at their old Silk Mill Industrial Park Complex in 
southeast Roanoke. The first train was pulled by the Chapter's Alco T-6 #41 
and consisted of a VGN Rwy G5 Gon and N&W Caboose 518409. The second train 
was the Chapter's EMD GP30 #522 pulling Tool Car 1407 and VGNX 6077 
Railroad Lounge Observation Car. The windowless 6077 held a row of tables 
and chairs and Conventioneers were able to eat their lunch while riding. 
Also highlighted at the Chapter Siding was the VGN signal that will be 
placed at the Station in Roanoke soon, as well as VGN dwarf signals. Landon 
served as Chief Dispatcher for the trips.

I passed out to the Brethren and posted one at the Restaurant, a flyer 
about "Save the Date! November 7-8, 2009". This is information about the 
Roanoke Chapter NRHS fall trips from Roanoke to Bluefield and return on 
Saturday and Shenandoah and return on Sunday. Save these dates and plan to 
ride with us...more details as they become available.

Bill Daniel brought a family album of photos to "Show and Tell". It 
featured his Dad, George, Jr. who was a VGN carpeck and his Grandfather 
George, Sr. who was VGN Superintendent, New River Division. One photo shows 
a VGN Passenger train (probably #4)on the bridge at Covel with the 
Observation Car "Dixie" on the rear. Another shows Bill's Great Uncle, 
Baxter Daniel, brakeman, pulling a rope and speaking into an unusual device 
that was used as part of an early communications system somewhere on the 
line. Ruf Wingfield told Bill about Fred Preston, who was his father's 
helper carman. Bill's Dad would open the journal boxes of VGN Freight Cars 
and make the inspection and adjust the pads, and if oil was needed, he 
would leave the box lid open for Fred to apply oil and close. Ruf said that 
Fred did not want to be promoted to VGN Carman because being a helper 
allowed him to work daylight hours and have weekends off. This turned out 
to be a very productive story. Ruf remembered that he has in his basement, 
a VGN packing fork used by carmen to maintain the journal boxes on VGN 
Frieght Cars and will donate it to the VGN Station Project!

I showed Landon Gregory a list of VGN Rwy Norfolk Division telegraph 
abbreviations sent to me by Abe Burnett. More on this later.

When Ruf saw Bill's old photo of the Roanoke Yard Office, it caused him to 
recall a small wire hook hanging from the ceiling in the locker room that 
he could not identify. He observed it for a long time and finally when he 
was transferred to second trick, the answer came. VGN Brakeman O. J. "Rap" 
Meadow was using the hook to keep his bag lunch from being invaded by large 
VGN rats.

Our designated joke provider brought the following paragraph that is 
probably typical of a lot of the VGN Brethren: "I've sure gotten old! I've 
had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, fought prostate 
cancer and diabetes. I'm half blind, can't hear anything quieter than a jet 
engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and 
subject to black outs. Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation; 
hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have 
lost all my friends. But, thank God, I still have my driver's license."

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon




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