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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with ten of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway. Attending for the first time was
former Virginian Carpenter George Craighead, Jr. I showed the NSLOCOS.COM
photo of the N&W SD-45 #1776, fresh out of the Chattanooga paint shop. Also
shown was a photo of the new Southern Railway NS #8099 Heritage unit, with
the #1776 in the background. The old red, white and blue #1776 "knocks your
socks off" as described by one of the Brethren and most felt it "out shined
the Heritage unit".

For Show and Tell, I took the Winter 2012 NRHS "Bulletin" and a group of
pages scanned from Joseph B. Baker's book "The Virginian Railway, The
Release of a Great Domain". I found Baker's book last week in the Roanoke
City Main Library "Virginia Room", looking for an origin of Kumis. Several
photos we have not seen were scanned from the book: Two views of the car
dumper at Sewell's Point; a very early view of the Roanoke Passenger
Station; 2,000 ton-per-day tipple at Tamroy, WV (connected to the VGN by
the Kanawha, Glen Jean & Eastern RR at Pax) and an 8-foot seam of "clean
coal exposed in a cut of the Winding Gulf Branch of VGN RWY". Also listed
are "industries in operation June 30, 1910 along the VGN. Included are coal
and coke operations, as well as distilleries, iron foundries, brick
factories, ice plants, barrel manufactories, tobacco warehouses, canning
factories, cotton mills, stave mills, and handle factories".

The Jewel from the Past is from December 15, 2005: "I asked the Brethren
about working during ice storms. Scotty said he remembered having to beat
the ice off grab irons so he could climb up the ladder to release or apply
hand brakes. 'Slick' Inge recalled when he was braking, once trying to
break up ice on top of a hopper car and the whole ice shelf slid off the
car with him on top of it, to the ground. One of the Brethren said in the
old days during ice storms there was 'oatmeal, corn meal, and miss a meal'".

Most of the rest of the meeting we talked to an ex-Virginian I met last
week after getting a call from his daughter, who found one of my cards in
Lafayette, VA. He is George Craighead, Jr., who started on the VGN as a
Carpenter, in 1948, and retired from NS in 1990 as a Supervisor, with 42
years of service. George grew up in Ironto, VA right beside the VGN and now
lives in "downtown" Lafayette across the street from the "Hudson
dealership". He thinks nearby Kumis was named after someone who was injured
or killed on the rails there. He actually worked in the VGN Passenger
Station in Roanoke and told the Brethren about working on the windows and
ceiling. He recalled a large pot-bellied stove in the middle of the waiting
area there. Before I left his home last Saturday, he gave me some VGN
Annual Reports and two 11,000 volt insulators he saw being taken down and
discarded after the N&W merger, across the Roanoke River from his home.
These will be displayed in the finished Station in Roanoke. I have posted a
photo of George, Jr. and the insulators on this site under "Skip's Photos".
George's father also worked for the VGN on a track gang out of Ironto, VA.
One Sunday morning when George Jr. was about 12, his Dad, at the breakfast
table, observed a VGN coal train approaching Ironto, and told the family,
"Get my work clothes ready and pack me a lunch; that train is going too
fast and is going to wreck". Sure enough it turned out to be true, and I
was able to show George Jr. a photo of the 1940 wreck at the west end of
Kumis siding near the Lafayette crossing. More from George later.

Then there's this: An elderly man in Florida, owned a large farm with a big
pond in the back. He fixed the pond area up nice, with picnic tables,
horseshoe throwing course, and orange and lime trees. One evening he
decided to take a bucket and bring back some fruit. As he neared the pond,
he heard voices, shouting with glee. As he came closer, he saw a bunch of
young women skinny-dipping. They had heard him coming and moved to the deep
end of the pond. One of them said "We're not coming out until you leave!"
He frowned, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim, or make you
get out my pond". Holding up his bucket, he said "I'm here to feed the
alligator". Some old men still think fast on their feet!

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDXIII

__._,_.___
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20120329/26575997/attachment.html>