Takin' Twenty with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with six of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway.  Landon Gregory brought two posters
he recently purchased in Danville of the Wreck of the old 97.  Landon grew
up just north of Danville, VA in the small community of Lima.  One of the
posters was a photo of the brand new Southern steam locomotive built just
weeks before the fatal wreck of North Danville, VA.  The other was the one
Landon is the proudest.  It has the original song written by David Graves
George, telegraph operator for the Southern RR at Franklin Junction, now
Gretna, VA, about the famous wreck.  The third verse of the original song
starts with "It's a mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville, and at
Lima is a three mile grade".  Landon remembered, as a lad, camping in the
original road bed of the Southern (the tracks were relocated after the
wreck) where the old 97 was trying to stop for the upcoming curve!.  Also
this poster indicates the 1867 Lynchburg and Danville RR crossed the old
Southern and Franklin Turnpike at Lima.



Also passed around for the Brethren to peruse were the "NRHS News" and
November 2013 "Trains" magazine.  The NRHS "News" has a great article about
the March NS Steam trains and several photos from around Roanoke.  The
"Trains" this time "zeros in" on auto rack trains, past and present,
uncovered bi-levels and covered tri-levels.  The Brethren recalled the old
Baker track in South Yard where new autos were hauled in on the famous 25
VGN BX-1 Automobile box cars and unloaded, one at a time by fork lift.



I told the Brethren about watching a recent TV show about the Kentucky
"Turtle Man" where he visits the South Fork Scenic Railway Shops near
Lexington, KY to remove opossums from their overhead cranes. At the N&W
(and VGN) Historical Society Convention this year in Mullens, I met Bill
Johnson, who is involved heavily with this short line scenic , but Bill was
not involved with the "Turtle Man" on the Show.



In last Monday's "Roanoke Times" "100 Years Ago Today" article was the
following:

"There was profound grief yesterday among Norfolk & Western employees
around the passenger station and shop yards.  Their pet, 'Daisy, the Rat
Killer' is dead...the beloved canine was given respectable and sorrowful
burial in the pet and mascot cemetery in the coach yards'.  The Brethren
did not recall VGN having such a cemetery...



The Jewel from the Past is from August 23, 2007:  "Glen McLain told a story
about Billy Graham who was in the news this week.  Seems upon arriving in
Charlotte, he persuaded his driver to let him drive the limo.  Billy who is
87, had never driven a limo before and got her 'into the wind'.  A short
distance away sat a rookie NC State Trooper operating his first speed
trap.  The limo went by him doing 75 in a 55 zone.  The trooper pulled the
limo over and was very surprised to see who was driving.  He immediately
excused himself and went back to his car and called his supervisor.  He
told him, 'I know we are supposed to enforce the law but I also know that
important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know what I should
do because I have stopped a very important person.  The supervisor asked,
'Is it the governor?'  'No, he's more important that that.'  'Oh, so it's
the president.'  The young trooper said,'No, he's even more important than
that.'  The supervisor finally asked "Well then who is it?"  The young
trooper said  'I think it's Jesus, because he's got Billy Graham for a
chauffeur!'"



Time to pull the pin on this one!



Departing Now from V248,



Skip Salmon



CDXCI
__._,_.___
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20131003/3fc9ed18/attachment-0001.html>