"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 signed a Get Well card for Russell
McDaniel, VGN Master Mechanic at Victoria and Retired N&W Manager Motive
Power and Equipment-Locomotive, who is recovering from a recent illness.

Attending for the first time was John Blotnick from Cleveland, Ohio who
traveled to Norfolk yesterday to interview with NS for a position in the
Signal Department. John "discovered" our site recently while researching
information about the EL-2b class electrics for his N-gauge model train
layout. John stopped by to "Take Twenty" with us and brought many photos,
articles and books about the VGN to share with the Brethren. He plans to
scratch build a VGN EL-2b for his N-gauge line. He worked for the BNSF and
answered many questions about his former rail career. He and Landon Gregory
especially hit it off because of Landon's background as a dispatcher and
his involvement with the signal operation at BNSF. He gave me several VGN
post cards to give the Brethren and I agreed to do some research at the N&W
(and VGN) Historical Society Archives for him about the EL-2bs.

The Jewel from the Past is from July 14, 2006: "From last week, 'Cornbread'
Victory said each day several box cars of rayon were also picked up at the
Silk Mill in Roanoke. Also a VGN 'Hot Dog' was a device that was used to
thaw coal at the Sewells Point
Coal Pier in the winter. It contained an oil burner and blower and was
cylindrical in shape, thus it looked somewhat like a hot dog".
This prompted a discussion about frozen coal "sticking" in hoppers after
the "hot dog" did its thing. It was agreed that many times residual coal
stayed in the car AFTER it was weighed and dumped, traveling back to West
Virginian to be "reloaded" and weighed again!

We discussed many articles recently about the area around the VGN Station
and where the Roundhouse and VGN Complex has been developed in Roanoke. The
City is receiving a "face lift" in this area and it looks like the VGN
Station is going to be in the mix, almost as a welcome center for this new
development. I told the Brethren about our Station Project just receiving
VDOT approval for the go ahead for Phase II of this project.

Passed around was a page of joke quips from our good friend VGN Clerk
Robert "Little Abner" Glass. My favorite was this one: "While traveling in
Pennsylvania, a family caught up with an Amish carriage. The owner
obviously had a good sense of humor with the sign on the back that read:
"Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in
exhaust".

Raymond East, VGN engineer is known for squeezing a dollar until George
Washington yells, told of his rescue by Landon Gregory recently when his
pickup truck's battery was dead. Raymond lives in a large home in Hunting
Hills, one of Roanoke's finest neighborhoods, but drives an old pickup
truck.

Then there's this: A friend of mine told of his family who lives in far
Southwest Virginia in the mountains. He mentioned the trend of today of
prepping, storing large quantities of food and water for emergencies or
national disasters. He told of his family and all of his neighbors being
natural "preppers" all their life and preparing for winter each year by
canning vegetables and meat. His story told of an early 60s snow storm that
hit that part of the State hard for several days and stranded many in the
mountainous area. When some of the roads were opened, he and some of his
friends met a a local store and were concerned about one lady who lived at
the end of a very bad road, alone. They decided she needed to be checked
on. The only vehicle in the County capable to the task was an Army vehicle
that the local Red Cross had. The Red Cross volunteer agreed to go check on
the lady. A couple days later they met him at the same store and got his
report. He said "after plowing up the road and moving much snow to get the
porch I was able to open her screen door and knock. She opened the door and
after observing the truck immediately said "I don't think I'll be able to
give anything to the Red Cross this year, it's been a hard winter.....

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDXLVIII

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