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, 17 Apr 2008 11:12:04 -0000
Subject: [VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts] "Takin' Twenty with the Virginian Brethren"

Last night I had the pleasure to start our fifth year of "Takin'
Twenty" with eight of the Virginian Brethren and Friends of the
Virginian Railway. We signed a "Get Well" card for Rufus Wingfield
who is recovering from a respiratory problem in Carilion Roanoke
Memorial Hospital.

Cornbread is out of "Rehab" at home, but was not quite ready to
join us. He is now making his own cornbread and "saw dust beans". I
took something to show him that I found while looking for something
else yesterday. Ronnie, his son, was amazed to see this item. It
was a set of passes from Nashville to Roanoke where Ronnie and his
sister Linda rode with Tom Victory, conductor who was listed on the
passes. It was for July 1963 on the L&N from Nashville to
Chattanooga; Southern from Chattanooga to Bristol and N&W from
Bristol to Roanoke.

Wes Sowder and Jimmy Whittaker were discussing old times and
talked about working at the N&W GOB South(General Office Building
closest to the tracks) after the merger. Jimmy said that he had to
go to the fourth floor often to retrieve records and mentioned an
area that was secured behind locked doors. He remembered being
instructed to "throw away hundreds of old Virginian timetables"...

I told the Brethren that the slide mentioned last week showing
the VGN Roundhouse and George's Restaurant and Bording House sold on
ebay for $163, and had 20 bids. Also memtioned was the fact that just
before I left for Country Cookin', the NYSE closed and NS stock hit
the $60 mark and closed higher than CSX for the first time in a while.

For some time now we have been trying to figure out how the coal
trains were routed from the N&W over to the VGN during the time after
President Wilson nationalized the rails in 1918. The loaded coal
trains went down the VGN and empties came back from Norfolk on the
N&W during this time. Last Thursday at the work session of N&W (and
VGN) Historical Society, a newly found track chart answered this
question. The track now known as "Sleepy Hollow" that runs from the
west N&W Yard across Patterson Avenue and parallel to the old VGN
Main line to just west of the Norwich Bridge, now "dead ends" about
40 yards west of the bridge. This track is now where ballast is
stored and loaded on to MW dump cars. The map shows a connection and
switch from "Sleepy Hollow" to the VGN near the Norwich Bridge and
this is where the N&W coal was transferred to the VGN. Jimmy
Whittaker recalled this and Rufus Wingfield, from his hospital bed,
said that he also remembered talk of such a connection.

Registration is now almost complete for our upcoming "Friends of
the Virginian Railway at Milepost 2008". So far I have received
forms from eight states: VA, WV, MD, OH, FL, CA, GA and IN. Hope to
see you there!

One of the most unusual items discovered at the N&W Archives
work sessions, was found last week and I shared it with the Brethren.
It is an electric bill for the Consolidated Light, Heat and Power Co.
of Huntington, WV. It was for the month of June 1916 for $42.09 for
the Passenger Station at Kenova. This part was "plain Jane" but on
the back of the bill was a photo of a very lovely lady holding an
electical apparatus and smiling. In very large letters was "Electric
Vibrator Makes the Old Young, let us send you a Vibrator on a day
free trial".

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

Go Hokies!

Skip Salmon

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