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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with ten of the Brethren and
Friends of the Virginian Railway.  We discussed Gordon Hamilton's
presentation last Thursday at the Roanoke Chapter NRHS meeting.  Gordon
talked about the rail lines that made up the orignal N&W, how these were
influential in the 'Warof Northern Aggression' and how the war affected
them.  One interesting fact:  The first line, the City Point Railroad,,
between Petersburg, VA and City Point (Hopewell) had two steam locomotives
named Powhatan and Pocatontas.  Also Gordon showed in his presentation how
the Virginia and Tennessee RR (pre N&W) influenced the state lines when
West Virginia was formed.



For Show and Tell, I took the Spring 2014 Biz NS magazine.  It features the
"Roanoke Shops on the Rise" about how Roanoke's famous shop is now in the
forefront for NS locomotive work.  Don Graab, NS vice president mechanical
said "The shop currently i the only non-GE facility developing full-repair
capability on Evolution series engines".  Also Roanoke Shops now repairs
AC-locomotive tractionmotors, miking it the only shop on NS whith that
ability.  The Shop dies Dash 8.5 from Dash 8s, Dash 2 cab rehabs, MP15E
conversions to AC power and reck-damnage Ge road units.  I am as proud as I
can be about this because this is my old stomping grounds where I was
pictured in Progressive Rail testing a former VGN Train Master (for you
Frank) after we converted it to a remote control unit.



The Jewel from the Past is from October 25, 2004:  "Cornbread brought a
caboose key and presented it to me for the archives.  He remembered New
River Division Conductor 'Cocomo' Moran giving him the key about 1955.  He
and several of the Brethren talked about the new Nascar Hall of Fame that
just opened in Stuart, VA with local driver Curtis Turner being one of the
first inductees.  Cornbread remembered taking a ride with Curtis once after
a race  in the Roanoke Victory Stadium, the same year that  a young
'rookie' won one of his first races there: none other than Richard Petty.
Cornbread said he remembered he was 'anxious to get out after several
laps'.  Since the stadium was across Naval Reserve Ave from the VGN Shops
and Yard, I wonder if Cornbread 'marked off'"
.

The 2014 Major League baseball season opens this weekend so I am giving you
this one:  A doctor at an insane asylum decided to take his patients to a
baseball game.  For weeks in advance, he coached his patients to respond to
his commands.  When the National Anthem started, the doctor yelled, "Up
Nuts", and the patients complied by standing up.  After the anthem, he
yelled "Down Nuts" and they all sat back down in their seats.  After a home
run was hit, the doctor yelled, "Cheer Nuts" and they all broke out into
applause and cheered.  When the umpire made a particulary bad call against
the star of the home team, the Doctor yelled,"Boooo Nuts", and they all
started booing and cat calling.  Comfortable with their response, the
doctor decided to go get a beer and a hot dog, leaving his assistant in
charge.  When he returned, there was a riot in progress.  Finding his
assistant, the doctor asked, "What in the world happened?"  The assistant
replied, "Well eveything was going just fine until this guy walked by and
yelled, "Peanuts".



Time to pull the in on this one!



Departing Now from V248,



Skip Salmon



DX
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