"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 Happy Birthday card for
Jim Cosby, Friend of the Virginian Railway and Chairman of the Virginian
Station Restoration Committee.

We talked about last Sunday's Super Bowl and several of the Brethren agreed
that the Budweiser commercial was probably the best and the Go-Daddy was
probably the worse. The Brethren also liked the Paul Harvey farmer tribute
from Dodge Trucks. See we like other stuff too...

I reminded the Brethren about this weekend's Train Lover's Day at the
Virginia Museum of Transportation on Saturday and Sunday. We have our N&W
Coach 512 back in service and will give train rides both days on the 512,
Devil's Lake Lounge car and two cabooses behind our Alco T-6 #41. Come join
us if you can.

Passed around for the Brethren to peruse was the March 2013 "Trains"
magazine. Most of this issue is devoted to "Steam is back! Norfolk Southern
embraces its roots" about the NS steam excursion program. The schedule for
2013 is now on the NS web site, for a train near you pulled by steam. Also
in this issue the "Map of the Month" is Virginia's tidewater coal ports in
1954 and 2012. The Brethren especially enjoyed looking at the Virginian
Sewells Point 1954 part. Wis Sowder who served there in 1954 as a clerk,
pointed out the coal storage portion and told us "I spend many a cold night
walking this yard classifying coal for the mix". Ken McLain who also worked
there told stories of getting to and from the facility. Landon Gregory
pointed out on the map where the Yard Office was located and his spot.

For Show and Tell, Landon Gregory brought a 2 foot by 3 foot framed color
photo of the 1958 Radford Division Dispatch Panel with Dispatchers Lucian
Durham and Basil Ramsey on duty. This beauty was taken by N&W photographers
and given to him by legendary Dispatcher Tommy Duncan. Landon said that the
operator's office "KD" was right next to the Dispatcher's office in the
photo. This great slice of Americana shows all the panels and items such as
calendars, phones, papers, etc. typical of a Dispatch Office of the era.

The Jewel from the Past, like one in Bill Daniel's Hamilton 950 23-jeweled
timepiece given to him by his father, George E. Daniel, Jr. VGN Carman at
Roanoke Yard (son of VGN Superintendent G. E. Daniel) is from September 28,
2006: "We discussed the old Jim Crow laws and how they affected operations
on the Virginian. 'Slick' Inge remembered changing the signs in coaches to
'Colored' when the passenger trains crossed the state line at Glen Lyn
heading east into Virginia. 'Slick' said he did not remember any problems
concerning the law. Rufus Wingfield said in the yard, he didn't recall
having any incidents either. Landon Gregory, VGN Operator said he knew of
no reported accounts of violence or other problems relating to the laws".

Then there's this from our friend Bob Cohen: TEXTING CODE FOR SENIORS:
ATD: At the Doctor's; BFF: Best friend's funeral; BTW: Bring the
wheelchair; BYOT: Bring your own teeth; CBM: Covered by Medicare; DWI:
Driving while incontinent; FWIW: Forgot where I was; HGBM: Had good bowl
movement; LMDO: Laughing my dentures out; TOT: Texting on Toilet and my
favorite WAITT: Who am I talking to?

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDLVII

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