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

[NW Mailing List]

N&W Safety Rule #1060 states: "Stepping or walking on rail, frog,  switch, 
signal apparatus, retarder or loose wheel or dragging equipment detector  is 
prohibited."
 
Tom
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 3/8/2011 6:50:47 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

 
OK, I am ready for the abuse for asking this question but I have to  know.
 
What is wrong with stepping on a rail as noted in the movie  reference?  Is 
it a safety problem or a superstition?
 
Thanks for the enlightenment.
 
Rick Huddle
Delaware, OH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: _NW Mailing List_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)  
To: _NW Mailing List_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)  
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 8:27  AM
Subject: "Takin' Twenty" with the  Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon


Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with seven  of the 
Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We talked about  the 
collision last Wednesday in the NS Roanoke Yard at 12th Street.  
Destroyed was a former N&W wooden boxcar that was painted in St.  Louis 
to resemble a "Budweiser" billboard beer car. In the affected VMT  
storage line was one of the very last former Virginian Railway coal  
hoppers, which seemed to just get a good "shake-down". We talked about  
this car in the Roanoke Chapter NRHS Board Meeting on Tuesday night, and  
plans are to try to repair, repaint, and re-stencil it in VGN livery if  
possible.

Passed around for the Brethren to peruse were the  Winter, 2011 NRHS 
"Bulletin" and the April 2011 "Trains Magazine". The  "Bulletin" had a 
lot of western lines stories and photos as usual, but  also featured an 
article on EMD SW1 switchers. The "Trains" is mostly  about streamline 
high-speed trains.

"Gibby" Davis gave a report  on the train show last weekend in Clifton 
Forge. "It was mostly CSX and  I saw little VGN stuff", he said.

For "Show and Tell" I took a recent  gift of some Stuart T. Saunders 
stationery with 4-cent envelopes marked  "President, Norfolk and Western 
Railway Co. Roanoke, Virginia". Raymond  East responded when I asked if 
President Saunders was a "Friend of the  Virginian Railway": "I don't 
think he had any friends at  all".

The "Jewel from the Past" is from February 17, 2005: "Today I  went to 
visit VGN Operator Clyde Weatherly at Loyalton Assisted Living,  and took 
a photo of he and I, that I am posting on this site under  'People'. 
Clyde really enjoyed looking at the new book on the Virginian  in Color. 
He told me about handing up the orders to the ill-fated VGN  #800 crew at 
JK, just minutes before she blew up near Stewartsville.  When he was told 
there was a wreck, he searched every train order, even  in the trash can, 
thinking it was a head-on, and he had messed up the  orders. He went to 
the scene later that night and told me about seeing  the carnage". (Note: 
Clyde passed away several days after this  interview).

Last week I had an opportunity to see the new train wreck  movie 
"Unstoppable" starring Denzel Washington. He played a "28 year  veteran" 
engineer who stepped on a rail on his way to his "5,000 HP"  SD-40 in the 
opening scenes. The film is based on an actual CSX incident  (which 
incidentally, I heard they did not make public until AFTER it  happened). 
This movie was nominated for an Academy Award last Sunday for  its great 
SOUND, even though the lead units of the runaway were GEs and  their 
sound in the movie was that of EMDs. We discussed this movie and I  
challenged the Brethren to go see it, and see if they could find more  
mistakes in it than I could (21 and counting).

The ebay report  this time includes (3) 8X10 VGN cabooses for $22.47 and 
(9) great VGN  slides (duplicates) for $20.65. Those of you who watch 
ebay, and look  for VGN stuff...heads up, I am putting some choice items 
on  soon.

In keeping up with past sessions, our friend Eddie Mooneyham,  new NS 
employee, gave me a current (May 2009) version of the previously  mention 
NW company issued "Glossary of railroad terminology and jargon".  He got 
this book recently at the NS Training Center in McDonough, GA.  The 
Brethren enjoyed trying to figure out what the new words meant and  
especially how they would have been "exposed" on VGN tracks. Abe: It has  
"CTC" defined as "Centralized Traffic Control". This new thick 21st  
Century version of terms has several new ones: "ACRE" is defined as  
measured along railroad right-of-way 8' 3" wide by one mile. "CUBING"  
means "on the job training" and a "SANDWICH CAR" is "a super-insulated  
tank car whose inner tank is supported solely by urethane foam  
insulation". I challenge you to figure out the following NS terminology  
and jargon sentence: "The DOG CATCHER and DUTCHMAN passed the KISS AND  
RIDE and picked up a MUD HOP near the POT SIGNAL for a SKIN  LIFT".

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from  V248,

Skip  Salmon

CCCLVII

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