"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. We signed a Happy Birthday Card for
Virginian Brakeman Frank Breedlove. Frank left the railway shortly after
the merger to become a successful business man and land owner. Frank turns
eighty on Sunday.

I told the Brethren about my oldest grandson, Hunter who "took twenty" with
us last week, and having to take him home on Saturday night so he could
attend the Inge Family Reunion last Sunday in Nutbush, VA. His mother,
Victoria Virginia Inge, is a great niece of our beloved Russell "Slick"
Inge.

For Show and Tell, I took a map from a trackage rights deed for the Piney
River and Painter Creek Railway. This 6.348 mile connecting line runs from
Beckley Junction to Prosperity, WV and was owned jointly by the VGN and C&O.

Also passed around were two recent rail publications: Summer 2013 "NS Biz"
and the August 2013 "Railfan and Railroad". The "NS Biz" is about a lot of
new issues not familiar to us older railroaders: Green recycling,
encouraging employees to ride their bikes to work, using less electricity
by cutting off power, and a battle tested NS Movement Planner to improve
the flow of trains across US. This is a "far cry" from the old N&W Magazine
with "Folks along the line" and the "Pocahontas Club" and especially no
publication from the VGN for their workers. The "Railfan and Railroad" has
four pictures from the recent Lerro Publications photo shoot at the
Virginia Museum of Transportation. Yours truly is on page 54 loading
passengers off a City bus on to an old Powhatan Arrow car with the 611 up
front..

The Jewel from the Past, like those in one of the Brethren's Hamilton 992B
with a Ferguson Dial, is from July 19, 2007: "Jimmy Whittaker told the
group about one of the VGN Electrics turning over in the Roanoke Yard just
east of the Scales(AG). He said when he ran to see all of the excitement,
he was told to 'stay back, she is still hot...the static electricity will
reach out and get you'".

Russell McDaniel told the Brethren about living both in Victoria,VA and
Mullens, WV, and when asked which he liked better, he responded "Mullens".

Then there's this: A young man wanted to get his beautiful blonde wife
something nice for their first wedding anniversary. So he decided to buy
her a cell phone. He showed her the phone and explained all of its
features. Meg was excited to receive the gift and simply adored her new
phone. The next day she was shopping and her phone rang, and to her
astonishment, it was her husband on the other end. "Hi Meg, how do you like
your new phone?" Meg replied, "I just love it" but there's one thing I
don't understand though..." "What's that, sweetie?" asked her husband. "How
did you know I was at WalMart?"

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDLXXXV

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