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

[NW Mailing List]

OK, I am ready for the abuse for asking this question but I have to know.

What is wrong with stepping on a rail as noted in the movie reference?  Is it a safety problem or a superstition?

Thanks for the enlightenment.

Rick Huddle
Delaware, OH
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List<mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> 
  To: NW Mailing List<mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> 
  Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 8:27 AM
  Subject: "Takin' Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon


  Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with seven of the 
  Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We talked about the 
  collision last Wednesday in the NS Roanoke Yard at 12th Street. 
  Destroyed was a former N&W wooden boxcar that was painted in St. Louis 
  to resemble a "Budweiser" billboard beer car. In the affected VMT 
  storage line was one of the very last former Virginian Railway coal 
  hoppers, which seemed to just get a good "shake-down". We talked about 
  this car in the Roanoke Chapter NRHS Board Meeting on Tuesday night, and 
  plans are to try to repair, repaint, and re-stencil it in VGN livery if 
  possible.

  Passed around for the Brethren to peruse were the Winter, 2011 NRHS 
  "Bulletin" and the April 2011 "Trains Magazine". The "Bulletin" had a 
  lot of western lines stories and photos as usual, but also featured an 
  article on EMD SW1 switchers. The "Trains" is mostly about streamline 
  high-speed trains.

  "Gibby" Davis gave a report on the train show last weekend in Clifton 
  Forge. "It was mostly CSX and I saw little VGN stuff", he said.

  For "Show and Tell" I took a recent gift of some Stuart T. Saunders 
  stationery with 4-cent envelopes marked "President, Norfolk and Western 
  Railway Co. Roanoke, Virginia". Raymond East responded when I asked if 
  President Saunders was a "Friend of the Virginian Railway": "I don't 
  think he had any friends at all".

  The "Jewel from the Past" is from February 17, 2005: "Today I went to 
  visit VGN Operator Clyde Weatherly at Loyalton Assisted Living, and took 
  a photo of he and I, that I am posting on this site under 'People'. 
  Clyde really enjoyed looking at the new book on the Virginian in Color. 
  He told me about handing up the orders to the ill-fated VGN #800 crew at 
  JK, just minutes before she blew up near Stewartsville. When he was told 
  there was a wreck, he searched every train order, even in the trash can, 
  thinking it was a head-on, and he had messed up the orders. He went to 
  the scene later that night and told me about seeing the carnage". (Note: 
  Clyde passed away several days after this interview).

  Last week I had an opportunity to see the new train wreck movie 
  "Unstoppable" starring Denzel Washington. He played a "28 year veteran" 
  engineer who stepped on a rail on his way to his "5,000 HP" SD-40 in the 
  opening scenes. The film is based on an actual CSX incident (which 
  incidentally, I heard they did not make public until AFTER it happened). 
  This movie was nominated for an Academy Award last Sunday for its great 
  SOUND, even though the lead units of the runaway were GEs and their 
  sound in the movie was that of EMDs. We discussed this movie and I 
  challenged the Brethren to go see it, and see if they could find more 
  mistakes in it than I could (21 and counting).

  The ebay report this time includes (3) 8X10 VGN cabooses for $22.47 and 
  (9) great VGN slides (duplicates) for $20.65. Those of you who watch 
  ebay, and look for VGN stuff...heads up, I am putting some choice items 
  on soon.

  In keeping up with past sessions, our friend Eddie Mooneyham, new NS 
  employee, gave me a current (May 2009) version of the previously mention 
  NW company issued "Glossary of railroad terminology and jargon". He got 
  this book recently at the NS Training Center in McDonough, GA. The 
  Brethren enjoyed trying to figure out what the new words meant and 
  especially how they would have been "exposed" on VGN tracks. Abe: It has 
  "CTC" defined as "Centralized Traffic Control". This new thick 21st 
  Century version of terms has several new ones: "ACRE" is defined as 
  measured along railroad right-of-way 8' 3" wide by one mile. "CUBING" 
  means "on the job training" and a "SANDWICH CAR" is "a super-insulated 
  tank car whose inner tank is supported solely by urethane foam 
  insulation". I challenge you to figure out the following NS terminology 
  and jargon sentence: "The DOG CATCHER and DUTCHMAN passed the KISS AND 
  RIDE and picked up a MUD HOP near the POT SIGNAL for a SKIN LIFT".

  Time to pull the pin on this one!

  Departing Now from V248,

  Skip Salmon

  CCCLVII

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