"Takin' Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with twelve of the 
Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. Attending for the first 
time was Charlie Brown, friend of Gibby Davis, who grew up on Woods Ave 
beside the Virginian Yard in Roanoke. Charlie told everyone he did not 
have a dog named "Snoopy" but did have one named "Teddy". He recalled 
memories of the Squareheads "clang-clanging during the night" and 
crawling through a drain pipe that went under the yard and described the 
feeling when trains would move overhead. We also signed Happy Birthday 
cards for Russell McDaniel, VGN Master Mechanic who is 88 on Saturday, 
and for Greely Wyatt, VGN Electrical Foreman at Mullens, who turned 84 
Tuesday.

Several responses were receive from last week's report about weapons. I 
asked the Brethren about the VGN "issuing" S&W .32's. Doug Bess, whose 
grandfather Joseph Jett, VGN conductor at Page, owned a S&W .32 and left 
it to him. Doug's wife asked "if VGN issued pistols to the employees?" 
The Brethren just laughed. I took this as a "no". Noah Tickle, who 
worked as a yard engine inspector on the "W" reported that he carried a 
pistol. "Some of the people you would come up on, out in the early 
morning darkness, would scare the hell outa yah".

I showed the Brethren a photo that Jim Blackstock sent me of an unusual 
VGN flat car with sides attached, car #0101. Jim said that he thinks it 
came from Abe Burnett and builders files of ACF. Jim gave me permission 
to post this photo on this site under "Rolling Stock".

Also for "Show and Tell" I passed around an article I researched from 
"The Roanoke Times" of May 17, 1910 headlined "Virginian's New Station 
Opened, Building Goes in Use Today, But is said to be intended as 
temporary". The new station of the Virginian on South Jefferson street 
will be dedicated today with the simple opening of the building at 12 
o'clock. No ceremonies will mark the advent of the first passenger 
station of the great trunk line in this city. Although the system has 
maintained a fast passenger schedule on the Roanoke division two years, 
the freight depot has served the purpose of both passenger station and 
freight depot. The new building cost $35,000 and was constructed by A. 
M. Walkup, of Richmond, Va. It is not a very pretentious edifice, being 
one story and of stone, brick and terra cotta, located on the east side 
of Jefferson, about fifty yards from the street car line. There are two 
waiting rooms, a baggage room and an office for the Adams Express 
Company. It has been rumored for some time that the new station is a 
temporary building as the company intends eventually to erect an 
elaborate terminal for the system in the center of the city". This is 
the first time I, or the Brethren have heard that this station was to be 
temporary and that the VGN intended to build another station in Roanoke, 
where? Also, the Adams Express Company eventually became the Railway 
Express Company.

The "Jewel from the Past" like one in Landon Gregory's Elgin 21 jewel, 
B. W. Raymond with 2 sunken dials (Montgomery) is like one from August 
5, 2004: "A story was shared about some Italian workers at Elmore when 
the yard was extended. It seems that when they were working on the large 
bank removing rocks, occasionally a rattlesnake would rattle and it 
would be 'dispatched to snake heaven or wherever snakes go'. On one 
occasion one of the guys turned over a rock and a copperhead bit him. In 
broken English he said "Why dida ya nota sounda the alarm?'"

Also passed around for the Brethren to peruse was the report from the 
Virginia Museum of Transportation Public Input Sessions from Fran 
Ferguson, Director of Development. Several Virginian Railway enhancement 
ideas were part of this report. More on this later.

Raymond East, mild mannered 6'4" VGN fireman and engineer shared an 
incident recently told him by a son of a friend. The elderly man went 
for a medical check-up and was driven there by his wife. The doctor 
asked him if he and his wife "still had 'hoochie coochie?" The man was 
sort of confused and stepped out of the doctor's office to the waiting 
room and asked his wife "Nellie, do we still have 'hoochie coochie'?. 
She responded, "Harold, I've told you a hundred times, we have Blue 
Cross-Blue Shield".

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

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