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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" for the first time in 
the new year with eight of the Brethren and Friends of the Virginian 
Railway. We talked a lot about new year's resolutions but since almost 
all have already been broken, we moved on to other stuff...

Passed around was the February "Trains" magazine which highlighted 
circus trains. The Brethren recalled observing several in their careers. 
The most unusual article in this issue is "Inciting the senses" about 
memories from scents remembered and associated with the railroad. On 
page 35 of this issue was the best example of the power of suggestion: a 
"scratch and sniff" circle on a photo of three cross ties or "cross 
tires" as remembered by one of the Brethren. This allowed the reader to 
actually smell what creosote smells like. Of course some of the Brethren 
recalled other memories after smelling the small circle: dirty socks, 
some variety of food given to them by the "beanery" and many other 
smells not to be named here...

The ebay report this time includes several slides being sold: Squarehead 
#100 in Roanoke in 1957 $61.00; meet of H16-44 lead hopper train and VGN 
#4 $27.09; #3 leaving Norfolk Union Station $118.80; VGN train on a 
bridge somewhere $18.40; also sold was a VGN air brake diagram for a 
hopper for $71.00 and the most unusual and suspect item was a VGN Rwy 
"Security officer badge" that someone bid and paid $71.00 for.

The Jewel from the Past is from January 6, 2005: " 'Cornbread' Victory 
told about when the VGN started using propane on the cabooses. He said 
that it was customary to 'cut the cab off on the fly' and use the hand 
brakes to stop it on the cab track. When the first propane equipped one 
almost 'got away' and headed for the yard office. 'I've never been so 
scared in all my life'".

Speaking of our beloved "Cornbread" Victory, my good friend John 
McDaniel gave me a December 1996 NS "Paces" magazine that has on page 17 
a photo of "Cornbread" and his wife observing a photo display at the 
Virginia Museum of Transportation. I showed the Brethren this photo and 
gave the magazine to "Cornbread's" son Ronnie when he arrived at our 
session. John gave me several other items which I brought for "Show and 
Tell" last night which included an NS $100 poker chip given to Belleview 
employees as a safety award; a sterling silver key ring of the NS 
Thoroughbred; a tile with the NS steed; and several other NS items.

The discussion somehow turned to the process called "time slipping" on 
the VGN where one employee performed the work of another's craft and 
that employee would be awarded a day's pay because of the infraction. 
Wis Sowder recalled that if a clerk saw a yard master, for example, 
write down on a slip of paper a car number, he could "time slip" the 
yardmaster and get a day's pay. This prompted a discussion about yard 
and road seniority rosters and who could work which jobs relating to 
moving trains or parts of trains.

Our resident joke man, Ken McLain, brought his usual three pages of 
jokes for the Brethren to enjoy. Since this one included something like 
my name, I was asked to pass it on to you: A blonde is terribly 
overweight so her doctor put her on a diet. "I want you to eat regularly 
for two days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for two weeks. 
The next time I see you, you'll have lost at least 5 pounds". When she 
returned, she shocked the doctor by losing nearly 20 pounds. "Why that's 
amazing, the doctor said, Did you follow my instructions"? "Yes, I'll 
tell you though, I thought I was going to drop dead that third day", she 
answered. "From hunger, you mean" asked the doctor. "No, from skipping!".

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

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