Fwd: [VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts] "Takin' Twenty with the Virginian Brethren"

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--
Skip Salmon

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To: VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts at yahoogroups.com
From: "Charles E. Salmon, Jr." <gkholine at cox.net>
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:14:58 -0000
Subject: [VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts] "Takin' Twenty with the Virginian Brethren"

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with 10 of the
Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We signed a Happy
Birthday card for VGN Yardmaster Rufus Wingfield who will become an
octogenarian tomorrrow.

I passed around the May "Trains" magazine and everyone liked the
article "Clooney film captures rail history". This one opens
tomorrow and stars George Clooney and is called "Leatherheads". It
is a comedy about how college football saved the professional
football league. Norfolk Southern and the NC Museum of
Transportation furnished a steam engine, cars and movement of trains
for filming at Salisbury and Rural Hall, NC.

The Norfolk Southern 2007 Annual Report arrived in my mail
yesterday so I took it to show the Brethren. They liked the pictures.


>From an inquiry from one of our fans, I asked our VGN electrical

guru, Greely Wyatt, about the overhead wires at Mullens Motor Barn.
Greely said that there was catenary outside and beside the Barn but
the wires stopped at the building. There was no 11,000 volts inside,
so the VGN used a spacer car to position electrics inside the Barn.

>From another question, the Brethren think that the Roanoke Roundhouse

was torn down sometime in 1962.

A lot of discussion was about April Fool's day and if pranks
were pulled on the railway men. Several remembered trying to ride
the street cars on April first but at almost every stop, someone
would unhook the trolly wire. Ruf remembered someone dis-assembling
his father's farm wagon and putting it back together on top of his
barn. The best was from Jimmy Whittaker. His wife would replace the
sugar with salt in his sugar bowl and Jimmy would have "salty"
oatmeal and coffee" on April first. Jimmy fondly remembered that
after his wife passed away, his son recently slipped over early on
April first and changed the sugar for salt to Honor his Mom.

The ebay report was given: Replica tall blue lantern globe
with "VIRGINIAN" embossed: $80.00; Slide with Trainmasters on a west
bound train passing #4 in 1955: $44.07. The ebay sale that caused a
lot of talk among the Brethren was one slide taken looking west from
the turntable area in Roanoke showing a water tower, yard office,
Franklin Road bridge, Trainmaster, EL-2B and three "Squareheads",
went for $565.55. There were several bidders and the second highest
bid was $555.65. If you want to see this expensive photo go to ebay
and search item number 120234135432.

Also passed around was a photo that I took of the bronze plaque
placed on the Jefferson Street Bridge just above the VGN Station in
Roanoke. It reads "Erected by the Virginian Railway Company and the
City of Roanoke, VA A. D. 1928". It lists Charles H. Hix, president
and A. M. Traugott, chief engineer Virginian Railway.

Several have visited Cornbread who is recovering from a hip
replacement. On the last visit we had with him he told us that he
recently read somewhere that "peanuts are one of the ingredients of
dynamite so don't eat too many".

I think I'll pull the pin on this one.

Departing Now,

Skip Salmon




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