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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night, on the eve of Ground Hog Day, I had the pleasure of "Takin' 
Twenty" with seven of the Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. 
We signed a Happy Birthday card for one of our favorite Friends of the 
Virginian Railway, Jim Cosby. Jim has worked long and hard on the 
Station project and recognizes the Brethren at every turn. Landon 
Gregory was a little late because of his trip to Crewe for the funeral 
yesterday of VGN Dispatcher Norman Baughan. Norman started with the VGN 
as Operator at Abilene.

The Jewel from the Past is from November 3, 2005: "Walter Grigg told of 
solving a complex problem with the hopper car turner at Sewell's Point, 
because gears had been changed to a thicker size than the original 
drawings showed. He was summoned to VGN Vice President and General 
Manager D. C. King's office for a pat on the back. Walter said that 
Russell McDaniel was waiting to see Mr. King when the two came out of 
his office. Russell said he had 'never seen Mr. King pat anybody on the 
back before'".

The ebay report this time includes the following VGN items sold: Slide 
of #15 in Roanoke in 1955 for $8.00; Deal of the Year is an H. Reid 
hardback "The Virginian Railway" selling for a mere $12.00!; 25 VGN 
photos for $89.88; Negative of AG #906 at Princeton for $49.89; and a 
Card Photo of VGN #604 with 46 men posing on her for $90.00.

Passed around was the March 2012 "Trains" magazine. One article "The 
4-axle era: Is it over?" No 4-axle road-switchers, once locomotive 
builders "bread and butter", are not in the catalog anymore. VGN got it 
right with the F-M "Trainmasters". Another interesting article "Too Late 
for the Party" tells of a 1971 search for authentic steam left in the 
east, and highlights the "Lost Engines of Roanoke". Another is about 
"Freaky Loads" including 737 fuselages, windmill blades and Jail Cells.

Most of the night centered around a DVD that was shown of track footage 
of the current Whitethorne District. This footage was shared with me by 
one of our best Friends of the Virginian Railway, Steve Smith. He has 
been communicating with the Brethren for some time now. While in the 
Navy, he sent us a photo of himself holding a Virginian Railway banner, 
standing on the top of Mount Fuji, Japan. Steve is now employed by NS 
and works on the NS test research car which also videos footage from the 
rear. He gave me permission to show these DVDs to the Brethren, who were 
very much impressed with seeing what the VGN looks like today. Shown was 
footage from Pembroke to Kumis. The mile-long Whitethorne Tunnel was 
quite impressive, lit up with the rear lights on the research car. Steve 
has shared DVDs of all of the former VGN territory, west of Roanoke, and 
I will show these to the Brethren as I can. I now understand why NS 
would not allow the long dome car to travel from Bluefield back to 
Roanoke on the Whitethorne District, on our recent fall excursion 
trains. Mostly single track, this district has many slide fences 
protecting cuts, (some in curves) that are very close to the track. The 
next DVD shown will be the Kumis to "WB" across the Salem Connection. 
More on these as we show them.

Also passed around was the latest January/February "Bis/NS". This issue 
covers "Good deeds, good business" of volunteer programs where Norfolk 
Southern employees assist with their communities "doing good things". 
Also covered is an in-depth article about the musical group "The NS 
Lawmen". I do know that the VGN RWY had a brass band at one time, but I 
doubt it could be referred to as "It's like Merle Haggard meets Guns N' 
Roses" as the Lawmen were.

Our friend and VGN Clerk Bob Glass sent a list of items that have 
actually made it into Church Bulletins. The Brethren perused them and 
these two were their favorites: "Please place your donation in the 
envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered" and "For 
those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery 
downstairs".

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDV

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