- Overall Button

[NW Mailing List]

As Ken Miller and Abram Burnett commented, N&W Overall Co. was definitely located in Lynchburg. The building was located on Kemper Street, along the Southern Railway tracks within sight of the N&W Railway's Twelfth Street Depot and also within sight of the trolley barn belonging to Lynchburg Traction and Light. The N&W building still exists, it now serves as apartments. As a matter of fact my mother worked there briefly as a seamstress in the 1950's. -Ed Burnett, Lynchburg, Virginia

>     On 09/27/2022 8:04 AM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>     Mr. Reid -
> 
>     The item you pictured is a brass button from a pair of N&W-brand overalls. 
> 
>     These were used where the over-the-shoulder straps hooked onto the top of the bib (one on each side.)  There were also two on each side about waist level or a little higher, for closing up the front and the back (one left these open in the hot Summertime.)  There were also two brass buttons on the fly, but as I recall they were just stamped, flat metal, and not hollow like a button.
> 
>     The N&W Overall Co. advertised in the N&W Magazine, probably until the 1950s.  That company may have been located at Lynchburg.  It would be interesting to find out how they were able to use the name "N&W" without being sued for trademark infringement.
> 
>     I never had a pair of N&W overalls.  All my work clothes came from the Vasco (Virginia Supply Company,) which operated the beanery at Shaffers Crossing, which sold the Lee brand of work clothes: overalls, caps, and the best overall jackets I ever owned.   Vasco had been owned (I think) by some N&W officials since the day of Joseph H. Sands (who came with the Shenandoah Valley RR.)  Someone closer will know that story.   I have been away too many years to remember.   
> 
>     When I hired (1964,) a pair of Lee bib overalls cost $5, which was 28% of a day's pay for a Brakeman (the pay being $17.56 per day.)  Leather gloves cost $1 per pair for the canvas gloves with sewn-in leather palms, or $1.25 for a good pair of short-cuff. solid leather gloves (which all the experienced trainmen wore.)   In those days, one could get a big breakfast on State Street in Bristol for 35 cents.  What the heck happened to our country...?
> 
>     -- abram burnett,
>            designer of fashion turnips
> 
> 
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