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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with eight of the 
Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. The conversation almost 
immediately turned to discussing the passing of two Virginian Brethren 
this week: Ed Moles and "Mokey" Morton. Ed worked for the N&W as an 
operator in Winston-Salem before starting with the VGN in 1955 and 
serving as a yard engineer; he retired from Norfolk Southern with 30 
years service to his home in Chamblissburg, VA. Garland "Mokey" Morton 
of Victoria, VA was one of the most famous VGN conductors, and is 
pictured on page 123 of H. Reid's "The Virginian Railway" on the front 
of old #4 (last VGN steam engine still with us at the VMT). He is listed 
as "J. G. Martin", conductor, instead of Morton. "Mokey's" regular 
caboose that he used for years was VGN #307, which is now still serving 
as a museum in Mullens.

I showed the Brethren three VGN post cards that I found in a shop in 
Buchanan this week. The first is EL-C #132 pulling a tuscan 1957 NRHS 
Convention train into South Yard; the second is of EL-2B #126 on display 
at the Convention and the third is the famous shot of VGN #4 sitting at 
the station in Roanoke with a Railway Express truck unloading, in June 
1955. Also passed around was the N&W (and VGN) Historical Society 
catalog "The Commissary" that lists all of the railway "goodies" that 
are sold by the Society, including many VGN items.

The "Jewel from the Past", like one in Slick Inge's nephew George 
Harmon's Hamilton 992B with Montgomery dial, bought in 1965 for $25, is 
from April 15, 2004: "VGN Conductor Major Wood was spoken of fondly with 
colorful accounts of his using his 'private' C1 caboose as a vacation 
home, with actual spotting on sidings by the VGN at his favorite places. 
He actually passed away on his cab. 'Slick' Inge remembered that when 
Major lost a foot in an accident, he actually sat on the ballast by the 
rails and completed his paperwork for the job while waiting on medical 
assistance. On Sundays he would come in the yard facilities and 'get his 
1,000 mile tune-up' with a fresh shower".

I told the Brethren about the feedback I got from last week's report 
about the new Amtrak photo takin' rules in "Trains". I received comments 
from Kim Hensley of Huntsville, Walter Gay, Cameron Tyre, Ed Painter of 
Russelville (formerly from Narrows), Dave Phelps, John Rhodes and 
Richard Shell...see some of this stuff is actually read!

Also passed around was a photo of N&W #1119 4-8-0 showing her tender 
with a "dog house". The Roanoke Chapter NRHS is currently working on our 
#1118 (one of the "lost engines of Roanoke") and looking for a proper 
tender for her. This photo from the N&W HS Archives (photo NW01159) 
gives us reason to apply my recently acquired "dog house" on the new 
tender. The Brethren remembered that none of the VGN steam tenders had 
"dog houses" and those who worked as brakemen on the VGN were "glad they 
didn't". Note: "Dog houses" were small compartments with windows located 
on some N&W tenders, for the head end brakeman to ride, facing toward 
the rear, to keep watch for hot boxes etc.

Wis Sowder recalled working at Altavista while living in Roanoke and 
commuting. He said that Altavista and Campbell County were "dry", so 
each Friday afternoon he would take a list to the ABC store in Roanoke 
and "shop" for fellow VGN workers in Altavista.

The ebay "bargain of the week" this time was a Virginian Railway tall 
globe lantern with "VIRGINIAN" in raised lettering on the globe that 
sold for only $374.00!

One of the Brethren passed on a comment from a third grader who was 
asked to give a definition of "bacteria". He said "could it be the back 
door to the school cafeteria?"

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

__._,_.___