"Takin' Twenty with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

[NW Mailing List]

The now late, lamented Ft Monmouth.
Tom Cosgrove, SSG, USAR Retired (SC & MI), Red Bank NJ

On 3/20/2014 10:26 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:

> Skip,

> Interesting that you would mention Sputnik.  I was in the Signal Corps 

> Research and Development Company at Ft. Monmouth, NJ, when Sputnik was 

> launched, and I was one of a number of Signal Corps soldiers who were 

> rushed to a radio directional finding station to track the satellite 

> using radio direction finding equipment around the 

> clock.  Periodically, we would pick up the telephone and call in the 

> coordinates to Washington so someone there could plot Sputnik's path.  

> Times have certainly changed since those crude methods were used.

> Gordon

>

>     ----- Original Message -----

>     *From:* NW Mailing List <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

>     *To:* NW Mailing List <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

>     *Sent:* Thursday, March 20, 2014 8:13 AM

>     *Subject:* "Takin' Twenty with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

>

>     Last night, on the last Wednesday of winter this year, I had the

>     pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with seven of the Brethren and Friends

>     of the Virginian Railway. We discussed the passing of some friends

>     this week.  Several remembered Virginian Signal Maintainer George

>     Henry Lewis of Princeton and Hobert L. Scott, Jr. who served in

>     both the Operating Department and Mechanical Departments of the

>     N&W. Landon Gregory remembered Scott as Suptentendent at Crewe, VA

>     and I remember Mr. Scott as Manager Motive Power.  Both will be

>     missed.

>

>     I told the Brethren to be on the look out on DIY and HGTV for the

>     "Salvage Dawgs" TV show for an upcoming episode involving the

>     Mechanical Department of the Roanoke Chapter of the NRHS. They

>     taped a session at our 9th Street Yard using some of the Chapter's

>     equipment and "stuff" of Chapter members in this episode.  The

>     Black Dog Salvage 13th Street Roanoke antique store is

>     also involved with the Virginian Station Project.  More on this later.

>

>     The Jewel from the Past, like those in a Hamden "Special Railway"

>     23 jewel hunting case dust cover, is from October 25, 2007:  "This

>     month is the 50th anniversary of the Russian 'Sputnik' launch, the

>     first satellite or Russian 'fellow traveller' that started the

>     Space Race in October 1957. I asked the Brethren how they

>     remembered it as they went on their normal duties on the VGN. 

>     Glen McLain, who was working at Sewells Point, remembered a lot of

>     his friends who were going to W and M fabricating radios to listen

>     to the beeps.

>

>     Jimmy Whittaker remembered hearing that when the Sputnik made its

>     pass over the area every 96 minutes, people's garage doors would

>     go up and down."

>

>     I told the Brethren about Gordon Hamilton's power point talk

>     tonight at the regular meeting of the Roanoke Chapter NRHS at the

>     O. Winston Link Museum at 7:30 PM.  All are invited to hear about

>     "Railroads, Raids and Ruin, Building to Big Lick and Beyond"  If

>     you are in the area come join us and hear Gordon's presentation.

>

>     I passed around a list of 20 "Ponderisms" and asked the Brethren

>     to pick their favorite one.  Landon Gregory picked number 11, "How

>     is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a

>     whole box to start a campfire".  He then proceeded to tell us

>     about when he was about 9 on his father's tobacco farm in Callens,

>     VA and made himself a cigar out of freshly cured tobacco but could

>     not get it lit with a whole box of matches.

>

>     Since St. Patrick's Day was last Monday I have this for our Irish

>     friends: A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland and gives this

>     challenge: "I'll give 500 American dollars to anybody in here who

>     can drink 10 pints of Guinnes back to back.  The room is quiet,

>     and no one takes up the Texan's offer.  One man even leaves. 

>     Thirty minutes later the same gentleman, who left, shows back up

>     and taps the Texan on the sholder and says I'll take the

>     challenge.  He then downs 10 pints of Guinnes in a row.  The other

>     pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement.  The Texan then

>     gives the Irishman the $500 and askes him "I do need to know where

>     you went for the 30 minutes".  The Irrishman replies, "Oh, I had

>     to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first".

>

>     Time to pull the pin on this one!

>

>     Departing Now from V248,

>

>     Skip Salmon

>

>     DVIX

>

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-- 
Tom Cosgrove
Past Captain RBVFA Squad, EMT-B
N2VFK
SKYWARN Spotter LME002
Red Cross Disaster Volunteer since 1995

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