Powhatan Arrow Diners - Overall Button

[NW Mailing List]

Thank you so much 


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On Tuesday, September 27, 2022, 8:28 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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