"Taking Twenty with the Virginian Brethren"

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Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with eight of
the Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. I showed a
DVD "Legends of the Blue Ridge" which was mostly N&W steam footage of
the 1950s. It does have a short section on the Virginian Railway
showing an EL-2B, Pacific #212, BA #507 and AG #903 with some Roanoke
scenes, which caused a lot of forks to stop moving.

I told the Brethren about seeing former VGN B37, now NS 540037,
derrick car sitting beside the Shenandoah Division near the Power
House at Roanoke Shops-Locomotive on Tuesday. I suspected that the
last active large piece of VGN Railway equipment still in service was
about to be scrapped. I called a friend of mine working in the Shop
and found out that she is being repaired and will return to "active
duty" as one of the two derricks that NS has on the roster. This
former VGN diesel-powered beauty was purchased just before the 1959
merger.

Last Saturday I attended Railfest, the 20th year that the
Bluefield Chapter, NRHS has held a train show. I had a visit with
Tom Marshall, our Mullens correspondent, who is in the process of
photographing Virginian tunnels, bridges and signals. At the show I
displayed a framed VGN drawing of Fairbanks-Morse Trainmaster paint
and decals which caused a lot of people to "stop and chat". It will
be hanging in the Virginian Railway Room at VMT soon. At the show
John Hoge asked me to search Seniority Rosters for several former VGN
employees. I found G.E. and H.W. Hoge but not Russell Edward Hoge
and J.C. Johnston. Anyone out there know anything about Russell or
J.C.? Rufus Wingfield remembered calling both Hoges for VGN New
River Trains. He even knew which Rooming House they layed over in,
Mrs. Francis'.

Landon Gregory, who just returned from a 15 day cruise to
Panama, shared his experience on the "Island Princess". He also
brought a short DVD about the Canal which we also showed the Brethren.
He was impressed with the Canal "mules" (electric locomotives)that
guided the liner through the Canal with only a couple feet Clarence
on both sides.

I brought a 1949 Virginian Railway Routing Sheet showing the
different ways to route rail cars to and from the VGN. Landon
remembered using such a sheet one time to route a passenger. He
picked the wrong direction which cost an extra $5 to get them to
their destination. He had to reimburse the line for the $5. Ruf
remembered a VGN clerk J. R. Richards, who could route anything
anywhere, would receive calls from the VGN Office in Norfolk for
advice on routing.

Bill Spencer, a local mail carrier who visits us frequently,
stopped by and said that he remembered those "big VGN electrics
pulling five mile coal trains five miles an hour".

When Landon was telling about the Panama Canal, we also talked
about how the Canal saved 8,000 miles on a trip from the Atlantic to
the Pacific Ocean and that the liner paid over $200,000 fee for
passage. Cornbread's contribution was this: "I wonder how deep the
oceans would be without all those sponges".

Time to pull the pin on this one.

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon