"Takin' Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

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Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with eleven of the 
Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We signed a Happy Birthday 
card for William E. "Bill" Turner, VGN conductor who worked on the "W" 
before Korea and the VGN after. Bill is 78 today. I also told the Brethren 
about the passing of VGN conductor Glendon Lawrence "Mike" Hutchinson, 85, 
in Victoria this week. Rufus Wingfield, Wis Sowder, Raymond East and Glen 
McLain remembered working with Mike. Ruf said that Mike's Dad, Clarence 
Hutchinson, VGN engineer, was quite the "dresser" and he was frequently 
seen leaving the Yard Office in a suit and tie after his Roanoke Run.

During the session I passed around several items for the Brethren to 
peruse: During a recent work session at the Virginia Museum of 
Transportation with their staff, to make suggestions for plans for future 
changes at the Museum, Roanoke Chapter Member Rick Rader volunteered to 
donate a single beam headlight similar to the 611's original light. Passed 
last night was a photo of the single beam light installed in the 611 that 
has received "mixed reviews" on web sites. Some really like the change 
showing her as she ran on the N&W Passenger trains, but some like the dual 
beam headlight required for excursion service. Also passed was a photo 
showing that during the recent blizzard in Washington DC, when our federal 
government came to a full stop, the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown 
Soldier manned their posts. I showed the Brethren a "Diamond Jubilee 
1901-1984 Town of Victoria, VA" plate purchased last Saturday at the C&OHS 
Rail Event and Landon Gregory showed about 24 N&W train orders that he 
purchased in Clifton Forge after the Show. Several of the train orders were 
signed by Landon himself, when he copied them as operator in Crewe in 1971.

In response to a question by Jeff Sanders, I asked the Brethren when they 
thought the Virginian Freight House in Roanoke was taken out of service. 
Ruf and Landon thought it was about 1957 when the VGN stopped the "less 
than a car load" service. Landon recalled about 1956 while working in 
Moneta, he observed a single box of shoes delivered to the Station Agent.

Someone remembered when all locomotives had footboards on the front, for 
ground men to ride during switching. After several accidents, most roads 
including the VGN and N&W, removed these footboards as a Safety precaution. 
Ruf said that A. B. "Abbe" Harris was known as the "footboard yardmaster" 
because he rode on the footboard of a locomotive most of his shifts. Landon 
Gregory recalled seeing "Abbe" riding on the front of locomotives near JK 
Tower where S. T. Haley was the "first trick" operator. Landon said that 
Haley "never wasted any good water takin' a bath".

The Jewel from the Past is like one from Bill Honeycutt's 1909 factory 
Elgin given to him by his engineer grandfather W. A. Honeycutt, who was 
hired by the N&W in 1905 and worked on the Pocahontas Division, is from May 
20, 2004: "Discussion revealed that the Narrows Power Plant furnished power 
for the VGN Electric Locomotives as well as AC 60 cycle power for the 
railway offices, yards and facilities all along the line. Therefore, if the 
power was down for the Electric Locomotives, all lights and power would be 
off for the offices and yards as well.

At the rail event in Clifton Forge Saturday, I also got enough 2010 
Virginia State VDOT maps to provide each of the Brethren one.

In this Monday's "Roanoke Times" 100 years ago today: "It was reported in 
financial circles today that the Pennsylvania railroad had acquired 
sufficient of the stock of the Norfolk and Western Railway company to give 
it absolute control of the road". This prompted much discussion by the 
Brethren about how the "W" was operated and someone pointed out that the 
dividends on the "W" stock kept the Pennsy going.

The ebay report this time includes: VGN date nails from Kenbridge $15.50; 
1912 VGN pass for $42.00; 1928 VGN Electrification Booklet $43.00; Negative 
for VGN #211 at Princeton in 1954 $36.00; 1961 H. Reid book $49.99; and a 
1957 photo of VGN #132 at Matoaka $31.28.

Someone recently emailed me a photo of an elderly gentleman crossing a road 
near a "SLOW-GEEZER CROSSING" sign. I couldn't resist showing this to the 
Brethren. The first person said, "that looks just like Ruf Wingfield". The 
next one said "No, it's "Slick" Inge". After passing it around, the vote 
was 4 and 1/2 for Ruf and 4 and 1/2 for "Slick" (Raymond East said that 
"the face looks like "Slick" but the body looks like Ruf"). With the score 
tied Ronnie Victory arrived at the restaurant. We immediately asked him to 
"break the tie". He looked at it and said, "it looks like Ruf but let me 
put on my glasses". Then he exclaimed "Nope that's 'Slick' all right".

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

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