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

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Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with nine of the 
Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We signed a "Get Well" 
card for VGN fireman Raymond East who in the hospital getting special 
treatment. Attending for the first time was Jim Cosby, Roanoke Chapter 
NRHS Board Member, Treasurer of the Chapter, and Chairman of the 
Virginian Station Committee. The Brethren made Jim feel real welcome and 
enjoyed his stories about being an engineering officer on a US 
Submarine. My favorite story was about the time the sub was traveling up 
the Potomac toward Washington, and was required by regulation to have as 
many men as possible, to be on deck in dress uniforms for a 21 sound 
salute as they passed Mount Vernon. Each naval ship is suppose to sound 
their horn 7 times, sound their bell 7 times, and sound their gong 7 
times. The sub that Jim was on did not have a gong, so he had the cook 
bring the largest cooking pot up and a large ladle and "sound the pot" 7 
times. Jim said that it worked out OK going up and coming back down the 
Potomac.

 From last week, the VGN electric class plate donated by Superintendent 
Hank Kinzel mystery was solved with help from Tom Marshall, Ken Miller 
and Jeff Sanders. The "EL-3I" stands for "EL-31" with the "1" looking 
like an "I". Therefore the EL-31 plate was off the lead unit from 
locomotive #110 (a three unit Class EL-3A). Jeff Sanders has plates off 
#105 and #107 numbered EL-I7 and EL-I9 with both having the Roman 
Numeral style "I" for a "1".

Also from last week, I need to clarify one small "chigger bite" miscue. 
Sometimes I write these reports in the B.C. (Before Coffee) and have 
such Senior moments. I referred to the string of G4s in the photo 
displayed as G4 "hoppers" instead of gons. This is almost as bad as 
calling a steam locomotive a diesel...not quite!

As a special presentation last night for Jim Cosby who has worked 
tirelessly on our Virginian Station Renovation, I showed my video of 
first shovel of dirt being turned for the project by Thor Contractor 
employees to get it started a year ago with the flag pole. Also shown 
were trains at Yateman Viaduct, Salem Connection at the site of the old 
VGN Station and Wabun on the old Virginian.

Passed around was the 1978 N&W Annual Report with President and Chief 
Executive Officer Mr. Fishwick's account of the big strike. He 
highlighted that the railroad moved 50% of the traffic with 15% of the 
work force, with no cabooses. I worked most of the 82 days as a road 
engineer and was assigned a train on the Toledo District that was in 
"dark territory" at that time. This one trip gave me a "small taste" of 
how the Virginian operated with very few signals and mostly on train 
orders....don't see how they did it! Also passed around was a July 3, 
2010 photo from the Indiana Rail Road showing a "bucket train" with 2 
very large drag line coal buckets from the Blackhawk mine in Lewis, IN. 
The train moved the large load 22 miles. To see this photo go to:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=332146
Ken McLain commented that he would like to see the crane that this 
bucket is attached!

I gave out a preliminary copy of the Roanoke Chapter NRHS flyer "Fall 
2010 Excursions" about our Danville and Bluefield trips on November 6 
and 7. You can go to the Chapter's web site for more information. Also 
shown last night was a short video that I made last year when Landon 
Gregory and I went to Moneta and captured our 2009 train traveling up 
from Spencer via the Hurt Connection on to the Virginian and on to Roanoke.

Also I informed the Brethren the bad news of the passing of Tommy 
Williamson, conductor on the Norfolk Division who lived in Victoria. 
Rufus Wingfield recalled Tommy as a "nice fellow who was always kind to 
everyone". Landon Gregory recalled working with him on several occasions 
as operator.

The Jewel from the Past this time is from August 26, 2004: "'Slick' Inge 
responded to a question about the VGN hauling iron ore, and told of a 
train that went from Norfolk to Alloy, WV. The ore was hauled in coal 
hoppers but they were only filled to half capacity because of the heavy 
ore. He said that there were 'ore cars spotted on every spur track from 
Norfolk to Alloy because of hot boxes on the heavy laden cars'. This 
must have been one of the few times that loaded hopper trains went west 
across Virginia instead of east".

Our friend VGN clerk Robert "Little Abner" Glass, who still lives near 
Sewells Point, sends stuff for the Brethren all the time, on line. This 
weeks e-mail included several references to the hot weather we have been 
experiencing lately....it IS summer and is suppose to be hot. "It is so 
hot that: the birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the 
ground; the trees are whistling for the dogs; hot water now comes out of 
both taps. But my favorite is "it is so hot that farmers are feeding 
their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying boiled eggs".

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

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