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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night on the 70th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I had the 
pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with nine of the Brethren and Friends of the 
Virginian Railway. I asked each of the Brethren if they remember December 
7, 1941. Landon Gregory lived at Callands, VA, "so far back in the sticks, 
nobody lived behind us" said that "Dad only turned the battery radio on to 
hear Gabriel Heater", heard the news on Monday. Glen McLain remembered 
being in his kitchen listening to his plastic (Bakelite)radio hearing about 
the attack. Wis Sowder and Raymond East were in high school and knew they 
were about to go to war. The most unusual answer came from Frank Breedlove 
who had no idea what Pearl Harbor was and "thought she was a girl from over 
in Brookneal".

Eddie Mooneyham called me just before I left home yesterday and I passed on 
to the Brethren Eddie's comments. On Wednesday a 7' diameter boulder 
dislodged and crashed through a slide fence at Mile Post V353.1 between 
Rock and Matoaka landing on the main line of the PD District. This 
activated a track light that averted a derailment.

I reminded the Brethren about this Saturday's running of the Roanoke 
Chapter NRHS "Candy Cane Shifter". The event this year will be at the 
Virginia Museum of Transportation. Admission is $5 for adults and children 
under 12 get in free at the Museum, which includes a ride on our train 
pulled by the Chapter Alco T-6 #41. Trips from the Museum to 10th Street 
and return will be on Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM, and Sunday from 1-4 PM. 
We will be giving a very nice HO train set as a door prize. Come ride if 
you can.

I passed out the 2012 Friends of the Virginian Railway "Takin' Twenty 
one-page calendars to the Brethren. If you want one, contact me at 
gkholine at cox.net and I will send it for download.

We talked about the strike that was averted this week by rail workers which 
could have shut down our nation's rail lines. Engineers and Trainmen, and 
American Train Dispatchers ("Lightin' Slingers" as Harry Bundy calls the 
old Morse code-using version of these) agreed to "cool it" until February.

I got a lot of feedback from the VGN RWY double-barrel, and Illinois 
Central riot shotguns. Therefore, I will pass this on to you as I did the 
Brethren. Recently my son, the gunsmith, found on an auction, a Winchester 
Model 94 once used by an N&W Special Agent. I inquired about this and found 
out this .30-30 has a 26" octagon barrel and is in "like new" condition. 
The seller has a letter stating that it was purchased from R. M. Gillispie, 
Chief Special Agent for N&W, March 18,1968 for $125. I made him a $500 
offer for it, but was told he couldn't take less than $5,500!

Passed around was the January 2012 "Trains" magazine. Page 9 has a 
photograph of the three GP-30s (including Roanoke Chapter #522) that were 
used on a Special in October to start the celebration of the 30th 
Anniversary of Norfolk Southern. Page 13 has "Norfolk's light rail rolls 
like The Tide" about Norfolk's new train whose "5,100 plus daily riders are 
almost double projections". This Tide uses a section of the old VGN RWY 
right of way!. The 10-page feature "Big Little Railroad" features the 
Buckingham Branch Railway. Eddie Mooneyham, a Friend of the VGN RWY and VP 
of the Roanoke Chapter NRHS, worked as an engineer for BB before being 
hired by NS. Also passed was an email from the NW Mailing list announcing a 
2012 convention of the America Association of Private Railroad Car Owners 
Amtrak-NS train from Washington, DC to Chattanooga. The return on 9-30-12 
to 10-1-12 will be through Bristol, TN/VA with an overnight stay in 
Roanoke! Could there be steam on the horizon???

The Jewel from the Past is from August 11, 2005: "Keith Sowder said 
operator Clyde Weatherly had a cocker spaniel named 'Buck' that he would 
bring to work with him on the swing shift at the Walnut Street Tower (JK). 
'Buck' would sit over in the corner and keep quiet. Clyde would bring a 
lunch every day for him, 'Buck' and an un-named mouse, who lived in the 
Tower. Keith said when Clyde would rattle his lunch bag, the mouse would 
come out and he would feed 'Buck' and the mouse. I guess dogs and mice 
'take twenty' too".

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CCCXCVII

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