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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with eight of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway. Wis Sowder brought a July 1, 1959
Norfolk Division Seniority list and passed it around. Several of the
Brethren were on this list which included Yardmasters, Weighmasters,
Accountants, Janitors, Agents, Clerks, Dispatchers, Operators, Timekeepers
and one group I've never seen before "Stowers". All of these "stowers" were
assigned Norfolk. Anybody out there know exactly what they did for the VGN
RWY? Landon Gregory was very familiar with four of the Poindexter names.
These four brothers were all VGN Operators: Red, Billy, Joe and Tom. Seems
all four were known for their enthusiasm running trains, but Tom was the
calmest. When "rattled", Landon said Tom would use the expletive "John
Brown" and "you knew he was upset". The other three used regular
expletives, and there was no doubt!".....Wis is allowing me to add these
Seniority lists to the numerous we now have in the N&W (and VGN) Historical
Archives today.

Passed around was the Fall 2012 "Classic Trains" magazine. This issue has a
great article "From Covington to Hot Springs by Pullman" about the little
C&O passenger/freight train. This train ran from Covington, VA through
Harrington, Natural Well, Jenkins Ford, Callison, and Bacova Junction, to
Hot Springs, VA. On page 33 our own Lloyd Lewis has a photo he took of a
group shot of the riders. Also passed around was the August 2012 "NRHS
News" which has a two page article with photos of the renovation of our
Virginian Station in Roanoke.

The Jewel from the Past this time is from March 23, 2006: "'Scotty' said
when 'Cornbread Victory' first came to Roanoke from the backwoods of
southern Tennessee, he went to Sands and Company one day, and saw a large
round item on the shelf. When he asked, he was told that it was a Thermos
Jug. 'Cornbread' asked what does it do? He was told that it keeps hot
things hot, and cold things cold. The next day at the VGN Yard Office, he
was asked what the new fangled thing was he had, with his lunch bucket.
'Why this is a Thermos, it keeps hot things hot, and cold things cold'.
Someone asked him what he had in it, and he responded 'A hot cup of coffee
and a glass of ice tea'".

I want to remind all of you out there in the Virginian Nation about the
upcoming Special Virginian Day at the Virginia Museum of Transportation
September 22, 2012. There will be activities all day just for us, including
a "living history" display with VGN artifacts. Also Aubrey Wiley is working
on a very special announcement for this event that will promote our Fallen
Flag. I am very excited about working on this unique Virginian Railway
future endeavor, and I know you will want to be a part of its initiation.
Make plans to be with us that Saturday. Come meet some of the Brethren and
hear their stories "up close and personal".

Then there's this: Whether you own a dog or not, you must appreciate the
efforts of this owner to find a home for her dog (looks like "Hooch" in
"Turner & Hooch"): "DOG FOR SALE": Free to good home. Excellent guard dog,
Owner cannot afford to feed Jethro anymore, as there are no more drug
pushers, thieves, murderers, or molesters left in the neighborhood for him
to eat. Most of them knew Jethro only by his Chinese street name, "Ho Lee
Crap".

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDXXXII

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