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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with seven of the 
Brethren, and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We signed Happy Birthday 
cards for Gibson Davis who turned 74 last night and Ronnie Victory whose 
birthday is December 31. Ronnie is the son of Tom "Cornbread" Victory and 
we call him "Muffin". Ronnie was born just before midnight on December 31, 
1943. The Brethren call him "the 1943 taxpayer's dream child".

I passed around a map from December 1931 showing Virginian locations, 
roads, highways and rail lines from Princeton to Charleston. Of course 
there were no West Virginia Turnpike or I-77. The road from Kegley to 
Matoaka was marked "grading under construction" and from Mullens north, the 
main highway was "graded".

The Jewel from the Past is from December 30, 2004: "Harry Bundy said that 
the Atlantic Coast Line had purple and silver diesels that pulled the SCL 
passenger trains, that crossed the Virginian at Jarratt. They had killed so 
many people at road crossings accidents that they were called 'Purple 
People Eaters'. Tom Victory remembered the first EL-2Bs to come to Roanoke. 
He said that they pulled a single business car and came through Salem 'at 
over 50 MPH'".

I also showed the Brethren four VGN Annual Passes that I received in my 
Christmas Card from John McDaniel. These were from VGN Engineer D. E. Bohon 
and Passenger Conductor E. L. Reid.

 From last week I got a response relating to our discussion about the 
letter "Q" in Morse Code being similar to the whistle signal for road 
crossings. Steam engine expert and author Bud Jeffries of Radford, VA 
replied: "Today it is a long, long, short, long; but originally it was a 
long, long, short, short. Engineers were told to time the signal to end at 
the crossing, but that was difficult to do because this required judging 
the train speed to end the signal at the grade crossing. Later the last 
part was changed from short to long and the engineers were told to hold the 
long until the engine reached the grade crossing. This was told to me by S. 
R. Winegard, retired N&W Road Foreman of Engines. I think it only 
coincidence that the grade crossing and Morse code are related in any way.

For "Show and Tell" I brought a name plate from the VGN boiler for the 
Roundhouse in Roanoke. This was given to me by Gordon Hamilton at the 
December 10 workday of the N&W(and VGN) Historical Society Archives. Gordon 
gathered several volunteers around my work station(properly adorned with 
various Virginian Railway items) and announced that Santa told him "you 
have been nice and this should be placed in the Virginian Station after 
restoration". I have posted a photo of this VGN artifact on "Skip's Photos" 
on this site and you can click on the home page "New Photos" to see it 
also. Wis Sowder, clerk at the Yard Office in Roanoke said that he did not 
remember seeing this plaque in the boiler room because his "favorite place 
to sleep was in the sand house"...

I took a poll of the Brethren and they got their annual supply of 
underwear, ties, socks and shirts for Christmas. This prompted Glen McLain 
to tell a story of a fellow posting an ad shortly after Christmas: "For 
Sale, 30 volume set of encyclopedias, like new, need money, just married, 
wife knows everything!"

This is my final report of 2010 and I would like to close remembering some 
of those connected with this group who have passed on this year: Walter 
"Dirty Face" Snead, Conductor; Glendon "Mike" Hutchinson, Conductor; August 
A. Thieme, VGN Photographer; Ed Moles, Engineer; Garland "Mokey" Morton, 
Conductor; Charlie Miller, Dispatcher; Tommy Wilkinson, Conductor; John P. 
Fishwick, N&W President; Richard "Dick" Williams, Member-One CEO and member 
of the Virginian Station Restoration Committee; Rufus Wingfield, Yardmaster.

Departing Now, and Wishing You and Yours a Happy New Year from V248,

Skip Salmon

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