Takin Twenty 498

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*11-20-13 Takin Twenty*


 Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with eight of the
Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. Since tomorrow is the 50th
Anniversary of the JFK assassination, a lot of the discussion was about how
this event has changed things in America. Of course each of us discussed
where we were, and what we were doing when we got the news of John
Kennedy's death. Glen McLain was working the "hoot owl" so when he awoke on
that Friday afternoon about 4 PM and turned on his TV, he saw something he
had never seen before: a continuous news conference like no one had ever
witnessed on TV. Wis Sowder was off that day painting his living room, and
happen to have his radio on and heard the whole thing live. Landon Gregory
had just moved to Roanoke and heard about it at a local filling station.
Ronnie Victory was working at the General Office Building in Roanoke, and
was on his hour-and ten-minute lunch break, when he heard. Raymond East and
Gordon Hamilton could not recall. I was a brand new (11 months in)
Apprentice Electrician at the Roundhouse at Shaffers Crossing. We had
Apprentice class training every Friday from 12:30 until 3 PM. That day we
were given a psycological test to get data for a base line for newly hired
N&W employees, so we were not told of the assassination until about 2:30
PM. I remember going directly to the segregated locker rooms where my
locker was near the wall that separated us, and hearing only silence and a
faint cry on the other side of the wall...


 For Show and Tell, I took the Fall 2013 "Biz NS" and Summer 2013 "NRHS
Bulletin". Wis Sowder and Glen McLain especially liked the "Bis NS" which
is mostly about the 50th Anniversary of Pier 6 where both of them worked
after spending VGN time at the Sewells Point pier. Of interest was two
facts: The longest vessel ever docked at Pier 6 was the M/V Hyundai
Continental, 1,014 feet long and the largest cargo was the M/V Negonego at
168,977 net tons (10 two hundred car 100-ton per car coal trains). The
"NRHS Bulletin" is mostly about steel mills and the Tweetsie Raiload.


 Several years ago, I was "chastised" for remembering a "Chew Mail Pouch
Tobacco" sign I saw on the Wyoming Hotel in Mullens once when I stayed
there back in the early seventies. I also remember being asked if I wanted
air conditioning and was given a small electric fan. Just recently a photo
was posted on this site confirming my recallection of that sign.


 The Jewel from the Past, like those in a 21 jeweled Elgin, D. W. Raymond
with "box car" numerals, is from September 20, 2007 and is connected with a
comment from last week for H. Bundy: "I showed the Brethren a blueprint
sketch X-1935 that was discovered in a file I was posting at the N&W (and
VGN) Historical Society Archives Work Session last week. It is titled
'Proposed Movement of Virginian Railway Pier Car from VA Bridge Company
Plant to Walnut Ave. Connection, Roanoke, Va and dated March 9, 1939'. It
is a track chart showing how the Pier Car was routed over the N&W through
Roanoke to get it to South Yard on the VGN headed in the right direction.
It must have been what we now call a 'high and wide' load".


 Doctor Gibson Davis lives on a mountain between Catawba and Daleville, VA
and brought for Show and Tell a Coca Cola can, torn to pieces by a black
bear that he sees frequently on his farm. His wife had set the Coke out on
their deck for it to cool, and forgot it, overnight. He told the Brethren
that the night before the can was discovered consumed by the bear, it had
killed and eaten 20 of his neighbors chickens. Doc said that the bear left
a note on the deck that read: "Please leave a cheeseburger with the next
Coke"...


 Time to pull the pin on this one!


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


 CDXCVIII
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