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

[NW Mailing List]

As I recall, the "rabbit test" was a pregnancy test, and I think "the rabbit 
died" meant you were pregnant.

Jim Nichols




________________________________
From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Thu, June 6, 2013 7:15:37 AM
Subject: "Takin' Twenty with the Virginian Brethren" by Skip Salmon


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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