"Taking Twenty with the Virginian Brethren"

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Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with seven of
the Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway.

I passed around a set of pins manufactured by a Bristol, TN firm
showing different railway scenes and logos. Included were ones
depicting the N&W 611 and 1218 and various stations and landmarks.
The company wants to make one for us to use as a fundraiser for the
Station Project in Roanoke. Also included was a design showing our
rendering of the Station as it will be, when finished, and the
Brethren liked this choice for a pin.

Also passed was the System Timetable for AMTRAK showing their
latest schedules and routes.

Landon brought a CD of Alaskan trains but the Country Cookin'
visual aide machine would not play it.

We also talked about the upcoming lecture series at the O.
Winston Link Museum in Roanoke on September 25 and October
30, "Exploring Green Initiatives in Railroading". Included is
a "delicious and locally grown catered dinner". You can get more
information about this at 540 982 5465 or www.linkmuseum.org

A friend of mine and the Brethren, John McDaniel of Wabun, VA
recently showed me an old "Roanoke Times" article about the Fairbanks
Morse Co. placing a store of parts for the VGN FM diesels at
Princeton. The parts were used as needed for the VGN diesels and an
inventory was made every six months to replenish parts used. The
reason given was the "remoteness of Princeton and distance from the
FM Beloit, Wisconsin factory".

Cornbread brought for "show and tell" a 1944 photo of
Ralph "Nookie" Corning of Victoria in his navy uniform. Most did not
recognize him but Landon Gregory and Raymond East did.

A discussion of Aubrey's 2009 calendar brought up a mention of
the December 31, 1933 incident of Greg Elam's grandfather, Marshall
C. Foor's riding of VGN 472 into the River west of the Hardy tunnel
(November photos). The ca lender names the river as the "Staunton
River" instead of what is now called the "Roanoke River" in the
area. Seems that the river that has headwaters west of Roanoke, and
was named for Roanoke County, is called the "Staunton" in southern
east Virginia and changes back to "Roanoke" when it goes into North
Carolina and on to Roanoke Rapids. Ken McLain recalled as a lad in
eastern Bedford County, hearing it called the "Staunton" and Raymond
East who grew up in Altavista knew it as the "Staunton". The ICC
account for the wreck and current maps of Bedford County name it
the "Roanoke" at the wreck location at V237. Anybody out there know
why this flowing water has two names? Also the Brethren especially
liked our own Ernie Hubble's photo of the wreck at Phenix on the back
of the calendar. Of course this brought back memories of our "Slick"
Inge, who added 10 hoppers of coal at Roanoke to the Ford train that
wrecked and saved the lives of those in the cab.

In our discussion of the Roanoke/Staunton River, Cornbread
seemed a little confused but said "I know one thing, all of it is
wet!"

Time to pull the pin on this one.

Departing Now at V248,

Skip Salmon