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

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Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with nine of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway. With us were Greely Wyatt, Dewey
Houck and Ernie Hubble who have not attended for a while.  A "Roanoke
Times" reporter listened in.  The "Times" is doing a special article about
the Virginian Station Restoration.  He came to interview some of the
Brethren for the article.  It was like "old times" having so many of the
Brethren around our table telling some stories that I have heard many
times, but never tire of hearing.  Landon told of stopping the ACL #1
passenger train "Champion" that had just slowed to 90 MPH for a slow order,
for a VGN coal train at Jarrett.  Greely Wyatt told his "Red Headed Step
Child" story about how he explained to the N&W officials in the Motive
Power meeting how he felt at the VGN-N&W merger when the NKP and Wabash
were rumored to be moving N&W headquarters to Cleveland after the N&W-NKP
merger.  Raymond East told of firing old #4 at Suffolk with a "short
handled " shovel, and Dewey Houck told of being a Surveyor on the VGN and
putting tracks into "impossible" mine locations.  The restaurant was
"buzzing" with actual facts and some stuff that had to be pure
fiction....but entertaining!  Each of the men were given a chance to have
their story recorded for the news article.


 The Jewel from the Past is from February 26, 2009:  "Cornbread kidded
Billy Daniel about being "too tall for his hair" and remembered that his
father, George Daniel, VGN Car Knocker was also bald.  Ruf told about an
extra Clerk who smoked a pipe.  He carried several pouches of "bacca", one
being a little different from the others (he called that one Mary Jane) and
he would "blend them".  Ruf said one night this Clerk took the van to pick
up a crew at AG and had to turn it around to return to the Yard Office.
When he did, he went over the bank almost into the Roanoke River.  No one
was hurt and "they took the yard engine up there and pulled the van out".



 For Show and Tell I took the July 2016 "Trains".  Pages 38 and 39 show our
own J Class 611 on the point of the excursionApril 10 going across the
"jagged Loops near Old Fort, NC"  I also took a copy of The Virginian
Railway Company First and Second Divisions Time Table No 1 of February 15,
1909.  This copy will be part of the collection of VGN items that will be
placed in a time capsule at the VGN Station during our celebration event
for the Restoration.  Of the eight "General Instructions" listed  on this
TT, #7 is : "Passenger trains must not exceed thirty miles an hour.  Other
trains must not exceed twenty miles an hour".


 Then there's this:  Greely Wyatt was in "rare form" and told the
following:  "The VGN had an Engineer named Keefer who was really tough on
hobos.  Once he had an empty coal hopper train headed west out of Roanoke
when a  hobo was seen on the  third motor back in his consist.  He told his
fireman to "go back and throw him off."  The Firemen went back but returned
shortly and told Keefer the man was a friend.  Keefer wasn't happy and said
"he"s no friend of mine, I'll throw him off".  He turned the electric
controls over to the Fireman and proceeded back to throw the hobo off.
After a short time Keefer returned and said "Turns out he's one of my
folks".  Later it was discovered that both Keefer and the Firemen were
greeted with the muzzle of a pistol  ,
 when they opened the cab door of the third unit.  Greely said that many
times after that Keefer was asked "Any of your folks ridin' today?"



 Time to pull the pin on this one.


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


 DCVII




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