"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. For Show and Tell, I 
brought a 1957 orange button "Affiliated with AFL-CIO and CLC" with a 
small white circle and orange dot in the center with "M" at 12 o'clock, 
"B" at 9 o'clock, "E" at 6 o'clock and "W" at 3 o'clock. I thought it 
might be a RR Union button, but none of the Brethren recognized it. 
Anybody out there know what organization it represents?

 >From last week: I need to clarify that Landon Gregory did not qualify 
at the D&W Dundee Tower while he was working for the VGN, but when he 
applied for a job with the Southern Railway. To our benefit, he heard 
from VGN first! Landon's wife, Sondra, also corrected my spelling of the 
town where she grew up. It is Leaksville, NC, which along with Spray and 
Draper, consolidated in September 1967 into what is called Eden, NC. 
Leaksville is also near and dear to yours truly and my bride, Judi. This 
is where we eloped and got married on a snowy day, January 16, 1965.

Also from past reports: I found at the N&W(and VGN) Historical society 
Archives last week, the passing siding at Kumis was listed in the last 
VGN New River Timetable as being 6793 feet long. In the July 1, 1960 N&W 
Radford Division TT, it is listed as 9292 feet long, so it was extended 
shortly after the December 1, 1959 merger. Also from the 1976 N&W track 
chart for the Whitethorne District, the concrete ties on the main line 
between V261 end V262 at Kumis were installed in 1975(NOT when the 
siding was extended). There were, from the V261 end, 204 Sante Fe, 400 
Costan and then 197 Santa Fe concrete ties applied. For Bob Cohen and 
others, the number 402 is CDII in Roman Numerals, and not CCCCII.

Also passed around for the Brethren to peruse were several photographs I 
took when my good friend, John McDaniel and I, traveled last Saturday to 
Radford, VA and returned via the old VGN Whitethorne District. One 
photo, which I have posted on this site under "Skip's Photos", shows the 
newer equipment that allows the Whitethorne pushers to cut off "on the 
fly" after pushing coal trains up the hill east of Whitethorne. NS GE 
Dash 8-40C #8751 was on "display" when we arrived at the former VGN key 
location for coal train operations. This new "cut off on the fly" 
equipment, mounted on the front of the pusher, has what looks like a 
"radio box" that may indicate remote control. Anybody out there have any 
knowledge of the operation of the newer equipment?

Also passed around from the N&W(and VGN) Archives was an October 13, 
1959 Virginian Railway Merger Agreement with N&W for Firemen. This 
established the crew assignments to have, for example, one VGN Fireman 
for every six N&W Firemen on crews. Also this Agreement defined the term 
"fireman" as "the second man employed on other than steam power".

I showed the Brethren a design I plan to use to make patches as a fund 
raiser for the VGN Station. It is the actual red and white monogram used 
on the nose of Fairbanks-Morse VGN Trainmasters, taken from VGN a Paint 
Diagram. More on this later.

The Jewel from the Past is from October 27, 2005: "Slick" Inge told a 
story about Engineer Fred Akers, whom Raymond East was the Fireman in 
the Victoria Yard. Seems that when the big Cemetery beside US 460 just 
east of Farmville, VA, started, Fred bought a plot. When he got back to 
Victoria, he told everyone that he 'sorta' regretted the purchase, 
because it was pretty far from Victoria and no one would drop by and say 
'hello'. Word got around about what he said, and now everyone from 
Victoria traveling down US 460 says 'Hello Fred' when passing the 
Cemetery. 'Slick' reminded everyone to tell Fred 'hello' on Saturday".

Wis Sowder, who has a farm, told us about working extra as a Milk 
Inspector for the State of Virginia, while working for the VGN. One of 
the Brethren recalled a local farmer who was known for his cow's great 
"sweet milk". A couple guys decided to go to the farm and ask him what 
his secret was. The farmer said "the cows enjoy a little beer once in a 
while; their favorite is Pabst Blue Ribbon". Since they had never 
purchased any from him, they decided to test the milk. One said, "Let's 
get a six-pack!"

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDIII

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