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

[NW Mailing List]

Hey there: my wife and I might take one of the excursions mentioned in the
email. If you can only do one excursion (because you're a broke medical
student like me), would you go Roanoke to Bristol and return or Roanoke to
Shenandoah and return? Anybody have any thoughts? Thanks.

Mike Weeks
Greenville NC

On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 7:02 AM, NW Mailing List
<nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>wrote:


> Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with eight of the

> Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. From last week, thanks to

> Abe Burnett for responding about Dr. Jeffrey Oaks of the University of

> Indiaapolis, who is the world authority on rail date nails. I remember the

> day at Roanoke Shops about 1972, when a small keg of 1959 nails was

> discovered when some excavation was being done near the old Wheel Shop. One

> of the shop inspectors made a lot of friends that day passing out the "1959

> jewels from the past".

>

> Thanks to Todd Arnett for responding about the brake stick holders. He

> says the new NS GE Heritage units have one on each side (on the engineers

> side above the rear air tank and on the fireman's side between 2nd and 3rd

> stanchion). I don't think my VGN stick will fit...

>

> The ebay report this time includes the following Virginian Railway items

> sold: Negative of EL-2b #126 for $22.50; Public VGN Timetable of 4/10/31

> for $39.95; Five slides of Virginian Heritage Locomotive #1069 sold from

> $2.99 to $14.99 each; VGN 4/34 Short Globe lantern with red globe, with

> serial # K638 was the "sale of the year" at $202.50; New River VGN

> Timetable of 8/5/45 for $39.95; "Virginian in Color" for $39.99; 3 Photos

> of VGN Steam for $14.05 and #906 Photo for $12.29.

>

> The Jewel from the Past from my "M-Day" Arrow article: "Tom 'Cornbread'

> Victory, VGN Yard Conductor, remembered being given a new N&W switch key

> and changing out the locks. He recalled throwing away, in scrap cars, many

> of the now "precious" Virginian Heart Shaped locks, and replacing them with

> the N&W version. Victory also was delighted to now qualify for the N&W

> Supplemental Pension Plan, not available to VGN employees. Rufus Wingfield

> said when he retired in 1988, he got a 6% return on his supplemental

> pension, gained from the merger."

>

> Passed a round was a photo I took on Tuesday of the first terra cotta

> tiles being installed on the new roof at the Virginian Station in Roanoke.

> The Raleigh, NC roofing company should finish the roof job soon. The photo

> captured the Illinois Terminal NS Heritage unit waiting for a signal,

> beside the station. I also took a photo of the IT unit with a train

> approaching JK from the south on the "Punkin' Vine" Winston-Salem District,

> with the Interstate Heritage unit on the lead in the background, and the

> Pennsylvania and Wabash Heritage unit as its pusher. NS Heritage units are

> showing up everywhere...

>

> For Show and Tell, I took my latest VGN find, a VGN RWY spike maul. I

> asked the Brethren what the smaller of the two heads was for. I guessed it

> was for starting spikes. Landon Gregory said "that end is for hitting small

> spikes"....

>

> I told the Brethren about meeting former VGN Yardmaster Roy Grose at the

> Gun Show in Salem, VA last Saturday. Roy and I talked for a while about our

> VGN Brethren friends, and almost every story I told, he finished, or "added

> mustard" to it. His colorful embellishments encouraged me to ask him to

> come "take twenty" with us and tell 'um again...

>

> Also passed around was the "Save the Date" flyer for the Roanoke Chapter

> NRHS Fall Amtrak Excursion Trains this fall. November 10, we will travel

> from Roanoke to Abingdon, VA and on to Bristol, VA/TN and return; November

> 11, Veterans's Day, will be to Shenandoah, VA with a short turn around

> north. We will honor all current and past Veterans on board the trains.

> Veterans also will be given a discount for their ticket cost. We are

> encouraging our "Friends of the Virginian Railway" if you know of a Veteran

> who you would like to purchase a ticket to ride this train, or would like

> to sponsor one, call 540 774 0611.

>

> Then there's this: A young ventriloquist is touring the clubs and, one

> night, he's doing a show in a small town. With his dummy on his knee, he

> starts going through his usual dumb blonde jokes. Suddenly, a blonde woman

> in the audience starts shouting, "I've heard enough of your stupid blonde

> jokes. What makes you think you can stereotype women that way? It's people

> like you who keep women like me from being respected at work, and in the

> community, and from reaching our full potential. You and your kind continue

> to perpetuate discrimination against not only blondes, but women in

> general, in the name of humor". The embarassed ventriloquist begins to

> apologize, and the blonde yells, "You stay out of this! I'm talking to that

> litle boy on your lap!"

>

> Time to pull the pin on this one!

>

> Departing Now from V248,

>

> Skip Salmon

>

> CDXXX

>

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>

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