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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night on the 69th Eve of D-Day, I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty"
with seven of the Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway.
The Brethren were kind of quiet last night but perked up when I showed them
a photo of one of Norfolk Southern's latest bill board ads. It shows the
feet of a body on a morgue slab with a toe tag that reads "I raced a train
and all I got was this lousy toe tag".

We also discussed the passing of Jean Stapleton, who played Edith Bunker on
the "All in the Family" TV show. Several recalled "Dingbat" stories but did
not know that Jean, before her acting career, worked for the Norfolk and
Western Railway, as a Secretary in the New York City sales office. She is
also known for her promoting the preservation of a passenger station near
her home town. Most agreed that our dearly departed Yardmaster, Rufus
Wingfield, reminded them the most of crusty "Archie Bunker", Edith's
husband on the show.


>From last week, Dr. Gibson Davis told us about his career as an OBY GYN

Physician at Roanoke Memorial and Carilion Hospitals. I asked him how many
babies did he deliver..."Many hundreds" was his reply. "Did you deliver
anyone famous"? "I did bring into the world Don Blocker's brother." For
those of you who are under 40, Dan Blocker played "Hoss" Cartwright on the
TV show Bonanza. Also Dr. Davis told us about the many rabbit cages that
were kept in the ambulance bay in the old Lewis Gale Hospital in downtown
Roanoke. These rabbits were used in a special test that sometimes required
one to say "Congratulations,the rabbit died". Anyone out there know which
test these rabbits took part in?

Passed around for the Brethren to peruse was the July "Trains" magazine.
Pages 54 and 55 has a neat article "How cool is your railroad?". It
compares the "coolness" of the 7 class one lines, and left out Amtrak...
For Norfolk Southern: Wick Moorman, top executive, is the "Tom Hanks of
CEOs and has everyman charisma". "Possibly the deadest downtown of any
railroad HQ city is Norfolk". The article praises the colorful NS Heritage
units, NS steam program and rock band "The Lawmen", and states "we love the
'toy box' TV ad"!

Monday in the "Roanoke Times" 100 years ago feature "Probably twelve
thousand people witnessed the performance of Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill's
Wild West show yesterday afternoon". (At Maher Field across Naval Reserve
Ave from the Virginian Roundhouse) "Those who came to town to see Buffalo
Bill and his Wild West contingent evidently absorbed a good portion of the
spirit of the Bad Lands as well as an abundance of the spirits dispensed in
wet goods emporiums of the city". This was three years BEFORE the same show
left town on the VGN only to wreck near Abilene.

The Jewel from the Past is from March 29, 2007: "I passed around a letter
to the editor I wrote. The "Roanoke Times" ran an article last Sunday bout
Roanoke's 125th anniversary showing history of the valley. Not once was the
Virginian Railway mentioned. I told them this was like 'going to a family
reunion and leaving one of your kids at home by them self'.

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

CDLXXIV

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