"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
Princess, our waitress since 2004.

I told the Brethren about meeting Mickey Apgar last Saturday near Lafayette
and hearing him tell about his father, Walter Apgar, being a water boy when
the Tidewater Railway was built nearby. His father told him many stories
about the Italians, who did most of the labor work, "killing a large bird
that looked like something they ate in Europe, but made them sick". Turns
out they were eating a buzzard. Mickey related his ride on the last
passenger train eastbound behind his father's garage. Mickey said he
remembered getting on at Ironto and buying a ticket for Kumis. When the
train passed Kumis, his father reminded the Conductor they wanted off. When
the train stopped, his Dad said "Captain, you ain't puttin' us off in this
swamp are you?" The Conductor walked up front and the train was backed up
to Kumis, where Mickey and his Dad got off. More stories about Mickey and
his father later.

For Show and Tell, I took three items: Latest "The Arrow", "NRHS News" and
a 609 page history book "Voices from Eastern Montgomery County, VA by those
who lived there". The "Arrow" is the second installment about Train Masters
(mostly after merger) and the history book contains a lot of history of the
Virginian Railway in this part of VA. The history book was a hit with the
Brethren. Wis Sowder found two chapters about his family relatives who
lived in the area. Several new photos (I've never seen before) of VGN
activity are in this book: Page 71- Ellett original passenger station in
1910; Page 73- two photos showing a steam shovel cutting the grades through
Ellett in 1901; Page 97- Fagg shelter station in 1946; Page 134 Lafayette
shelter station in 1940; Page 151- Roanoke Valley Mill beside the VGN in
Kumis 1945; and Page 243-Slate Hill tunnel. Also I have found many
references relating to the VGN through out the book. I purchased the book
in Shawsville, VA at a small museum in the north end of the Meadowbrook
building at the intersection of US 11/460 and Allegheny Road. This museum
of the area has a section on railroads and if you get a chance to visit,
they are open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 AM to noon.

Speaking of VGN Shelter-type Stations, I entered into the N&W(and VGN)
Historical Society Archives system HS-B00108 Virginian Railway Shelter Type
Station standard drawing last week. A copy was shown the Brethren last
night. Probably the most famous station of this type is the one at Nutbush.
These roofed three-sided shelters were 7' 6" high with a 6' X 10' interior
with an 18" wide seat along the back and had a "stone dust" floor.
Locations of these on the drawing are: Sunray, Melrose, Nutbush, Perrow,
Collosse, Hardy, Eggleston, Danieltown, Kenyon, Briery, Meador, Rock, Oak
Hill Junction, Ingleside, Elmore, King, Kegley, Eccles, Oakvale, Dothan,
West Deepwater and Lively. There were other locations indicated by photos
in the East Montgomery history book.

I told the Brethren about the now open spring exhibition at Planting Fields
Foundation on Long Island, NY. This NY state run exhibit at Manor House,
home of H. H. Rogers son-in-law W. R. Coe features the story of the
Virginian Railway. Several in the area contributed artifacts to this
exhibition and to learn more go to their website at www.plantingfields.org.
The exhibition runs through September 2, 2013.

The Jewel from the Past is from January 7, 2007: "Landon and Cornbread got
into a discussion about an incident that happened shortly after the merger
at South Yard. Seems Cornbread was moving a cut of hoppers and came to a
switch that required permission to pass by Operator Gregory. The problem
was that N&W had changed the name of Main Line track to "A-1" and somehow,
there was a misunderstanding and a switch was slightly damaged. Until last
night's discussion, Cornbread did NOT know that he was at fault in this
incident 47 years later".

Then there's this: "Wales...I was at a pub the other night and overheard
three very hefty women talking at the bar. Their accent appeared to be
Scottish, so I approached and asked, 'Hello, are you three lassies from
Scotland?' One of them angrily screeched, 'It's Wales, Wales you bloody
idiot!' So I apologized and replied, 'I am so sorry. Are you three whales
from Scotland?' And that's the last thing I remember"

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDLXVII

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