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

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Last night I had the honor of "Takin' Twenty" with six of the Brethren and
Friends of the Virginian Railway. Landon Gregory gave us a report about
last Saturday's reunion of Virginian Brethren in Victoria, VA.  He had a
photo of them posing in front of a newly restored signal maintainer's
office that is the latest addition to the Rail Park in Victoria.  This
Operator Mitchell's office was "removed" after the merger to a country
location and then recently restored and brought home.  Also Landon told us
of Jimmy Lee Bradshaw, a former VGN Operator on the Norfolk Division, who
was a passenger with his cousin Rhonda Beale on the last #4 in January
1956, and was captured in the now famous photo of the train standing in
Victoria.  Jimmy Lee is the man in the white coat, whose photo is now on
the wall in the coffee shop cafe where the reunion was held.  Landon also
showed us a photo of the missing famous Route 40 bridge that crossed over
the VGN at Victoria.  Times are a changing!


 We signed a Happy Birthday card for Landon who turned 78 on Tuesday.  I
had the Brethren sign the card and gave it to Landon in the envelope with
instructions to give it to his lovely wife Sondra, first.  This to make
sure Sondra saw a photo I found in some Archives Work day shots of Landon
using a vacuum cleaner on the carpet...


 The Jewel from the Past, like those in a 21 jeweled size 18 Hamilton lever
set 940, is from November 13, 2008:  " I brought a 1949 Virginian Railway
Routing Sheet showing the different ways to route rail cars to and from the
VGN.  Landon remembered using such a sheet one time to route a passenger.
He picked the wrong direction which cost an extra $5 to get them to their
destination.  He had to reimburse the line for the $5.  Ruf Wingfield
remembered a VGN Clerk, J. R. Richards, who could 'route anything,
anywhere', would receive calls from the VGN Office in Norfolk for advice on
routing."


 For Show and Tell I took the December "Trains".  Page 13 was very
depressing for the Brethren:  "Former Virginian main line mothballed" tells
about NS taking the famous WV line out of service amid coal traffic
decline, from Princeton to Elmore Yard.  Shown is one of the last coal
trains crossing the famous Black Lick trestle in Kegley.


 I gave out to the Brethren my 2016 one page Friends of the Virginian
Railway calendar.  I have shown the calendar to the Board Members of the
Roanoke Chapter NRHS and our Treasurer and Chairman of the Virginian
Station Restoration Committee, Jim Cosby asked me to add to this report the
following:  "This photo is incredibly good!  Thanks for sharing it.  It
belongs on the NS Calendar for 2017 with my suggested caption: The
Virginian Railway heritage unit 1069 is framed by the Jefferson Street
Bridge as it passes the Virginian station in Roanoke during restoration.
The restoration was completed in 2016".  Contact me at <gkholine at cox.net>
and I will send you a copy of the calendar.


 Then there's this:  A first grade teacher explains to her class that she
is a soccer fan.  She asks her students to raise their hands if they were
soccer fans too.  Wanting to get on her good side, all the students raise
their hands, except one.  "Why didn't you raise your hand?" the teacher
asks a little girl.  "Because I'm not a soccer fan.  I like football" said
the girl.  "Why?" "Well, my parents love football, and so I do, too.
"That's no reason. What if your parents were morons? What would you be
then?"  "Then," says the girl, "I'd be a soccer fan".


 Time to pull the pin on this one!


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


 DLXXX
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