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

[NW Mailing List]

Skip,

 

When, where, and at what time does the group meet?.  I would like to join in
when I am in the area.

 

H. Daniel Winter III

435 Willwood Drive

Earlysville, VA 22936

434-989-9313

 

From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org
[mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 8:21 AM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: "Takin' Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

 

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with ten of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We signed a Happy Birthday Card for
Bill Turner, VGN brakeman and conductor. Bill started on the N&W October,
1950, and after the Korean Conflict was over, signed on with the VGN in
August, 1957. He retired from NS, December, 1991, and will turn 79 tomorrow.

I passed around a flyer for the Roanoke Chapter NRHS Spring Excursion trip
from Roanoke by bus to Lynchburg, and Amtrak to Washington DC for a
five-hour layover, and return, on April 20, 2011. Their web site has all the
details of this trip. Speaking of the Roanoke Chapter NRHS, at our annual
dinner meeting last week, those who did not get a 2011 NS Calendar at the
January meeting were given one. There was one left, so I brought it to our
meeting last night and had a raffle and the winner was Ken McLain. At that
meeting, Jeff Sanders remembered those who took the west bound last year,
and mentioned VGN Trainmaster Rufus Wingfield. Also passed last night was a
poem given to me by the VGN Station Renovation Architect, Barry Rakes. It
was given to him by Mrs. R. W. Smiley, widow of an engineer known by Wis
Sowder and several of the Brethren. The poem contained the following verse:
"Also that amazing tale when old Captain Barger left Oakvale, on board two
experts at many games, none other than Frank and Jesse James".

The Jewel from the Past is from February 10, 2005: "I showed the Brethren
the email from Doug Harris of Auckland, New Zealand who saw Russell Inge's
photo that I posted and said 'Please tell Slick his fame has reached New
Zealand'. Of course this got a lot of 'hoots and hollars' and jokes about
unusual animals that live in New Zealand and how Slick would fit right in
there". Note: After the recent earthquake in New Zealand, I emailed our good
friend Doug Harris and asked if he was OK. I got a response last night: "I'm
way out of the quake area, but know some modelers in Christchurch. It's
about 2 hours flying time south of here...about 20 people were killed in the
Cathedral which has collapsed, and the current death toll is put at 75 with
around 300 missing".

Passed around was the latest issue of "Classic Trains" with several stories
about the N&W. Also passed was a photo I took last Saturday of an eastbound
coal train on the old VGN. Highlighted in the photo was milepost V251, just
west of the Salem Connection and the old VGN Station location. Another photo
passed was of the new replica of the passenger shelter that sat at Nutbush,
now an exhibit at Greg Elam's Victoria Rail Park. Greg had the nearby
Lunenburg Correctional Center manufacture and donate this fine example of
VGN "shelterdum"...

For "Show and Tell" I brought my friend John McDaniel's EL-2b Maintenance
Manual. This inch thick VGN manual gives instructions as well as photos on
how to maintain the streamliners. Items of interest include: "1. Every
120,000 miles, the EL-2b windshield wipers were to be removed, cleaned and
oiled with automobile machine oil; 2. Before every trip, the pantograph
collector wear shoes were to be lubed with graphite grease (Dixon 1924 or
equivalent) and 3. The Controller Drum segments, after every 30,000 miles
were to be cleaned and lubricated with Vaseline".


>From last week, Daniel Winter III corrected me with the peanut plant at

Suffolk being Birdsong (not Bird Song). Dave Phelps, who is retired from the
GE plant in Erie PA corrected my reference to the old diesel switcher VGN #6
as being an "Alco-GE". It was 100% "just GE". I got my information from the
Harold A. Reid book. (Harold A. made any miscues in the book; H. made none).
Landon Gregory and Raymond East, who worked with the peanut trains and
plants in Suffolk, said that yes, every fall there was a run on good clean
box cars for the plants. Landon said that he had orders to not let any box
cars with lime in them "any where near Planters".

The ebay report this time includes the following VGN items sold: Early 1900
Tidewater RY documents sold for $360.69; Slide of VGN Trainmaster and 4-6-2
meet for $47.79; "V. Ry" Adlake #185 lantern for $489.07; 23 Blackhawk Color
Slides for $24.99; EL-C Operating Manual for $92.99; Operating Manual for
F-M Trainmaster for $74.99 and a layout of Elmore Yard for $26.00.

Finally, Richard Shell wrote me when he recognized Benny F. Sammons in the
two Landon Gregory story. He recalled an incident with him and Benny that
involved brokering goats, Fred and Willie, and hauling them in the back of a
Firebird. Seems that the goats got away and were lured back with Corn Pops.
He got them home only to have them escape the day before hunting season
opened in Botetourt County. Richard lives not far from Lithia, VA, on the
N&W. A fellow told me once that in that part of the county, in the dog days
of summer, mosquitos get so big that "they have their own ticks".

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CCCLVI

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