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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with five of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway.  Most of the time was taken
discussing my "Show and Tell" book, "One Year Later" by Richard W. Jahn and
Gary Pancavage.  It is a soft back coffee-table photo book of the Norfolk
Southern Heritage Locomotives, one year after their special painting.
Pages 84 to 87 show a dozen photos of our beloved Virginian EMD #1069 in
her splendid and in my opinion stellar glory.  Many have said over the last
year, that the #1069 painted in the VGN Fairbanks Morse Trainmaster scheme,
is the best of the fleet to fulfill the real essence of what a fallen flag
would run today for that particular line.  My favorite photo in the book
takes up the entire back inside cover and was taken by our good friend Sam
Phillips showing #1069 rumbling across the former VGN trestle at Slab Fork,
WV on August 26, 2013.  The book is available from the N&W (and VGN)
Historical Society on their web site.



I told the Brethren about the 10th Anniversary of the O. Winston Link
Museum this month and a tour they are offering.  On January 25, 2014 one
can ride a tour bus and visit Roanoke Terminal and Shaffers Crossing in the
morning and Roanoke Locomotive Shop and Freight Car America in the
afternoon.  Tours are $5 with safety gear provided.  To find out more, and
reserve your spot, call Amber Carter at OWL at 540 982 5465 or visit her
OWL site at acarter at linkmuseum.org<http://do/mail/message/mailto?to=acarter%40linkmuseum.org>
Also the museum is having night photo shoots involving the Class A #1218, a
coal hopper and caboose.  Contact Amber for more information.



There is another item we discussed that you may be interested.  On April
12-13, 2014, TVRM and NS are planning a coach excursion trip from Grundy,
VA to Devon, WV pulled by old Southern steam #630. More on this one later.



The Jewel from the Past is from October 11, 2007:  "I passed around an item
that 'jumped out at me on ebay'.  It is a VGN RWY form signed by machinist
C. D. Edwards, and approved by Master Mechanic Walter Grigg,
allowing Edwards to purchase a course from International Correspondence
Schools.  Since Mr. Edwards is a retired Roanoke Shops machinist (former
VGN) and a good friend, I followed up for 'the rest of the story'.
Edwards, known by his close friends as 'Mopie', wanted to study more about
machinist work, so he talked to the VGN supervisors and they allowed him to
take the course and pay for it on time, each payday."  "Mopie" who was
quite known in the local "Blue Grass Circles" as an outstanding singer and
banjo player, passed away several years ago.



We also talked about NS possibly discontinuing service on the old Atlantic
and Danville, (N&W changed to NF&D) between MP 37.0 near Franklin, VA to
the end of the line at MP 90.2 near Lawrenceville, VA.  NS says it would
take $5.9 million to bring the line back up to FRA Class 1 standard for 10
MPH service.  The Brethren have many memories from the old Atlantic and
Danville days.



Then there's this from Gordon Hamilton "Only the Irish have jokes like
this":  An Irishman who had a little too much to drink is driving home from
the city one night and, of course, his car is weaving violently all over
the road.  A cop pulls him over. "So," says the cop to the driver, "where
have ya been?"  "Why, I've been to the pub of course," slurs the drunk.
"Well," says the cop, "it looks like you've had quite a few to drink this
evening."  "I did all right," the drunk says with a smile."Did you know,"
says the cop, standing straight and folding his arms across his chest,
"that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?"  "Oh,
thank heavens," sighs the drunk.  "For a minute there, I thought I'd gone
deaf."



Time to pull the pin on this one!



Departing Now from V248,



Skip Salmon



DIV
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