"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.  We signed a Happy Birthday card for
Virginian Operator Landon Gregory.  Landon started at Abilene, VA as an
Operator when the VGN still used Morse code to send messages.  He moved up
the ranks and retired as Chief Dispatcher Virginia Division for Norfolk
Southern.  Landon is 80 today.  For a present for him I found a photo in my
collection showing the station at Abilene a couple years before he was
hired. This photo shows VGN #3 with PA #210 stopped for water at the
station.   This prompted a discussion between him and Wis Sowder about the
Station at Altavista that was destroyed by fire.  They were not sure about
the date of the fire, but were sure that the Station Agent used an old VGN
mail car as a station while the new one was built.  Both remembered seeing
the VGN passenger trains being pulled by the two FM H16-44s that were
equipped  with steam generators, after VGN steam was taken out of service.


 Landon also reported to the group that 11 former Virginian Railway
employees attended the Annual Reunion last Saturday at Victoria.


 The ebay report this time has the following VGN RWY items sold:  1941 VGN
annual pass for $9.99; 18" X 24" color print of VGN AG #900 for $80.00; VGN
RWY "funny back" brass lock for $785.00; "N&W and VGN RWY" in color by H
Reid for $44.99;Color slide of VGN square head and FM H16-44 at Roanoke in
1957 for $37.00 and a set of VGN caboose keys for $16.00.


 The Jewel from the Past is from June 11, 2009:  "With all of the talk of
Chrysler and GM problems in the news, I brought a photo I found recently of
a red four door sedan built in 1949 for the Brethren to identify.  After no
correct answer, a clue given was that it was named same as  a famous rail
line.  Rufus Wingfield guessed a Chevrolet Coupe; Raymond East guessed a
Hudson hornet but Landon Gregory nailed it, a 1949 Kaiser "Virginian".
Wonder if they ever built a New York Central or a Union Pacific or a
...This reminded Ken McLain of a car that was sold by Sears & Roebuck.  It
was called an "Allstate" but looked exactly like a Kaiser "Henry J".  (The
"Allstate" was a dressed up "Henry J" .  Sears did not take in trade-ins
and the vehicles were in the $1500 range made from 1950-1953)


 We at "Takin' Twenty" do discuss the election and if you want, contact me
at gkholine at cox.net and I will tell you who the Brethren will support next
Tuesday.  By all means please use one of your most precious liberties and
vote for the candidate of your choice.


 Congratulations to all you Chicago Cub fans for their winning the 2016
baseball World Series.  Condolences to those of you who live in
Cleveland....maybe next year.


 Then there's this:  If toast always lands butter-side down when dropped
and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the
back of a cat and drop it?


 Time to pull the pin on this one!


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


 DCXXVI




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