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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night on Thanksgiving eve, I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with
eight of the Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. The buzz of the
night was my announcement, with permission of Ron Davis, President of the
Norfolk and Western (and Virginian) Railway Historical Society, that their
next annual convention will be held June 13-16, 2013 in Mullens, WV. The
event will be headquartered in the Twin Falls Resort State Park facility. I
urge you to mark this date on your 2013 calendar and plan to attend if you
are a member. If not a member, you can join this prestigious society and
Friend of the Virginian Railway, by visiting their N&W Historical Society
web site or going to
membership at nwhs.org<http://do/mail/message/mailto?to=membership%2540nwhs.org>.
The goal of the N&W Historical Society is the preservation of the history
of the N&W and Virginian railways. Several of the VGN Brethren agreed to
take part in this convention, if their health permits. They plan to share
some of their living history of our precious fallen flag line that H. Reid
says on page 9 of his famous book: "Henry Huttleston Rogers built with his
own money and gave it the best equipment that his money could buy".

We talked about what we have to be thankful. Someone said "I'm thankful
that when I woke up this morning, I was still on the green side of the
grass".

I told the Brethren of meeting Kent Womack on our recent excursion train
and discussing VGN Engineer "Chirpy" Linville. Kent remembered seeing
Linville when he was a lad and his Dad telling him about "Chirpy" loosing a
leg in a VGN train wreck, and returning to work as an Engineer. Also Kent
spoke of going to the station in Moneta, VA as a child, and taking
buttermilk to another Engineer on the VGN local, who would let him ride in
the cab of the steam locomotive, while he was shifting out cars at the
station. Seems that my reputation as a VGN enthusiast proceeded me on the
recent train trips. I was approached by a passenger who had a VGN heart
shaped lock with key for sale. We didn't "talk turkey", but I introduced
him to several other members of the Virginian Nation on the train!

The Jewel from the Past, is from July 5, 2006: "Tonight 'Cornbread Victory
reported he and Raymond East visited South Yard today and an NS Special
Agent told them they were trespassing. 'Cornbread' told him 'I've been
trespassing here for over 60 years...if it is not OK, then just take out
your pistol and shoot me'. Raymond said the Special Agent just drove off".

The ebay report this time has the following VGN RWY items sold: VGN Blue
Ridge Class AG #900 negative for $46.99; "The Virginian in Color" for
$31.50; Slide of EL-2b #127 for $13.35; 1933 VGN pass for $16.53; Slide of
AG #905 for $50.00; Aluminum VGN logo sign for $51.00; Slide of FM #47 in
1957 for $15.50 and a VGN watch inspection card from 1949 for $13.27.

We talked about the deer hunting season being in full swing but the biggest
buck killed so far seems to be the one that "dropped dead" at the VGN
Station last week.

For Show and Tell I took a recent antique store purchase: Safety Award N&W
Ash tray with a photo of the 1776 on it and "Presented as recognition of
your personal contribution in working safely without a lost time injury
during 1975, N&W Railway Company". I suppose a safety award of an ash tray
would be politically incorrect today....

I reminded the Brethren about an event coming up at the Virginia Museum of
Transportation on December 8, 2012: The Candy Cane Express. The Roanoke
Chapter NRHS will provide real train rides for $2 during the regular
schedule that day on the Candy Cane Express. You and yours can ride on an
N&W caboose or one of the Chapter's lounge cars. Come join us and ride on
our train if you can!

Then there's this: Once "Cornbread" Victory told the Brethren he a had
visited his doctor that day with a hearing problem. After looking into his
left ear, the doctor said "Tom, here is your problem. You've got a
suppository in your ear". Tom replied, "Now I know where I put my hearing
aide!"

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDXLVII

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