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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night, on the Eve of this year's Thanksgiving holiday, I had the 
pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with ten of the Brethren and Friends of the 
Virginian Railway. When we arrived, we were seated in a different area 
because a big family celebration party was using "Takin' Twenty tables". 
Our regular waitress Princess was off last night, so we had to actually 
order our food.

Most of us talked about having Thanksgiving with our families at home but 
Ernie Hubble told us about the "Drumstick Dash" Rescue Mission 5 K Race, 
and family walk, he is participating in today. This event "move your feet 
so others can eat!" is put on each year on Thanksgiving Day to raise money 
to feed the homeless and needy families in Roanoke. Way to go Ernie!

The ebay report this time is for only one item: a 5 and 1/2 inch silver 
pickle or shrimp fork, marked "Reed & Martin" and engraved "VIRGINIAN RY" 
in cursive that sold for $150.00. There were 16 bids on this item, 
including mine. Did anyone out there purchase this item, or know anything 
that you can share about it?

The Jewel From the Past this week is from November 25, 2004: "I also shared 
with the Brethren an item from the CD of the Narrows Centennial about a 
pilot, Harvey Amos of Bluefield, who 'barnstormed' with the famous Amelia 
Earhart. In October, 1930, he flew a 'two-seater' plane into the 88,000 
volt Virginian Railway power line crossing the New River. He severed the 
lines, blowing safety fuses in the Power Plant at Narrows and cutting power 
off from Mullens to Roanoke. Dr. Maury C. Newton, Sr. saw the crash and 
waded into the water, shouldered the wing of the plane, and lifted the head 
of an unconscious Amos from the water. He held the plane and Harvey Amos 
until help arrived. Amos recovered and continued flying in the Army Air 
Corps. Dr. Newton was nominated for the 'Carnegie Metal for Heroism', the 
highest civilian award for heroism. Dr. Newton 'declined the nomination and 
medal, exhibiting what a true hero is really made of'".

I passed out to the Brethren my "Friends of the Virginia Railway 'Takin' 
Twenty'" calendar for 2011. It is a one-page 12 month calendar that I put 
on card stock. If you want one, contact me off line, and I will email you 
the file or send one by "snail mail".

Also passed was a photo I got off railpictures.com of a brown bear (could 
be a grizzly) with his front paws on the outside rail, starting to cross 
the tracks, looking directly into the camera. Scotty said that the bear is 
breaking several safety rules but he would never cite him for it.

Since today is Thanksgiving, the Brethren began to talk about the upcoming 
Christmas. Billy Daniel said that Red Rider is selling an anniversary air 
rifle like the one in the movie "Christmas Story". This prompted all to 
tell their favorite part of the movie. One liked the part where the lad 
beat up the bully; one liked the dogs eating the turkey; one enjoyed the 
Santa telling the boy "you'll shoot your eye out"; Landon liked the part 
when the boy's tongue was stuck to the very cold flag pole, and told a 
story about a man who could not get the key into his car door lock because 
it was frozen, and attempted heating the lock by urininating on it, and 
getting another body part stuck. I enjoyed the soap-eating by the boy when 
he said a dirty word. He had to eat Palmolive...I had to eat Ivory!.

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Happy Thanksgiving from V248,

Skip Salmon

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