"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. We discussed an email 
about the first load of coal leaving the Affinity mine of United Coal 
near Sophia on NS, that was once served by the VGN. Affinity has 
invested $111 million to restart the old Winding Gulf Branch mine. Plans 
are to hire 250 miners. NS will get 95% of the coal and CSX will get 5%. 
This is very high quality coal for making coke.

Landon Gregory brought for "Show and Tell" a 1974 "History of West 
Virginia" textbook that his wife Sandra found recently in a Charleston 
thrift store. In the section about railroads "H. H. Rogers was 
responsible for two railroads in West Virginia: Short Line and 
Virginian. The Short Line ran from Clarksburg to the New Martinsville 
coal fields of the Monongahela Valley to upper Ohio with the possibility 
of extending to the Great Lakes and was completed in 1901. The largest 
was the Virginian from Deepwater to Norfolk, VA which Rogers used the 
trains' own weight and gravity to move them toward the Atlantic, like 
barges that floated on inland waters".

The Brethren talked about when and how they got their driver's licenses. 
Each described the auto used: Landon Gregory a 1931 Model A Ford Coup; 
Gibby Davis a 1951 Ford; Bill Turner a 1939 Pontiac; Raymond East could 
not remember; Wis Sowder a 1936 Plymouth; Ron Victory a 1952 Chevrolet 
and Glen McLain a 1934 Dodge.

The Jewel from the Past is from May 12, 2005: "'Slick' Inge recalled an 
occasion at Pax, just after signals were added to that area, two trains 
facing each other had 'green' signals. Seems that when the pusher 
prepared for the oncoming shoving operation, he had laid down sand, 
which insulated the circuit. Inge remembers telling LLoyd Lewis' Dad the 
problem and Mr. Lewis immediately diagnosed what was the cause".

Several photos were passed around. The first was from Abe Barnett of a a 
Viscose Box Car. The Roanoke Viscose Plant which made rayon and was 
called "The Silk Mill" was serviced by the VGN. Also shown was a photo 
of Viscose Co. #6 steamer used in Roanoke. Immediately Dr. "Gibby" Davis 
recalled that this locomotive was engineered by Mr. Stratiff, who was a 
neighbor of his Grandfather. The last photo was one by Bob Drake from 
Tom Sink's collection of VGN 4-6-2 # 212 at Victoria Station November 
1955. To see this photo go to:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=368962

Country Cookin' Restaurant has new "standing" menus and last night one 
of the Brethren noticed that one item on the menu needed an explanation: 
"SCARED STEAK". We had a lot of fun with our waitress Princess about why 
and how one would scare a steak. The owner came by, as he often does to 
greet the Brethren, and said he "sneaks up behind them and says 'BOO' to 
every one". Actually it was a misprint and should have said SEARED steak.

We also discussed the new "Smartway Bus" that started running from 
Roanoke to Lynchburg on Tuesday. This bus carries passengers for the 
Amtrak train that runs all the way to Boston and for $4 one way you can 
meet this train.

Then there's this: "Tommy had to have his tonsils removed. His parents 
got to thinking. Tommy was never circumcised, so why not have that done 
while he was knocked out. He would never know. So that is what they did. 
Afterward, Tommy's friend Billy, missed him at school for a couple of 
weeks and was worried about him. Finally, Tommy came back to school and 
Billy asked if he was all right and if there were any problems. Tommy 
said 'everything went pretty well, he guessed, but I'll tell you one 
thing...those tonsils ain't where we thought they were!"

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CCCLXXVII

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