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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with seven of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway.  It was the first Wednesday night
this year since we went back on Standard Time and several commented on how
quick it got dark.  This led to a discussion about Daylight Saving Time.
Most recalled when it first started, the rail roads stayed on Standard time
while the rest of the country changed an hour.  I told of my neighbor who
had two girls, moving to Rockbridge County that year.  They had gotten used
to a Valley train at the crossing near their new home at about the same
time every day.  When the time changed, (for the first time) one of the
girls was going to the store and did not anticipate the train coming and
was hit and killed.


 The Jewel from the Past is from April 17, 2008:  "Wis Sowder and Jimmy
Whittaker were discussing old times and talked about working at the N&W GOB
South (General Office Building closest to the tracks) after the merger.
Jimmy said he had to go to the fourth floor often to retrieve records, and
mentioned an area that was secured behind locked doors.  He remembered
being instructed to 'throw away hundreds of old Virginian Railway
timetables"...


 From last week, no one bought the 1909 VGN RWY timetable that was on ebay
for $149.98.  This is the one that has listed at MP 254 "Cornell".  MP 254
is near the Diuguids Lane crossing.  One of my responses said it was also
called "Langhorn".  This is just west of "VN" connection and for a short
time there was an operator stationed there just after the merger, when this
crossover connection from VGN to N&W was installed.


 Today, Thursday November 6, 2014 from 2-4 PM, at the Norfolk and Western
(and Virginian) Historical Society Archives on Salem Ave. in Roanoke, there
will be an Open House.  This is to celebrate the 100,000th entry into their
data system of information about the two fallen flag lines.  If you are
near Roanoke today, come by and say hello and see what this modern jewel
has to offer.


 We missed VGN Clerk Robert "Little Abner" Glass at Victoria on October 25
and last week.  Robert says hello to all and wished he could be with us but
could not this year.  Bob started on the VGN Valentine's Day 1944 and is a
walking encyclopedia of knowledge about the VGN RWY.  Hope you can "Take
Twenty" with us soon Bob.


 For Show and Tell I took the December 2014 "Trains" magazine.  This issue
on page 17 has a photo of one of NS newly painted "second hand fleet"
locomotives.  Page 64 is an instruction for changing a broken knuckle on a
train car.  What they don't instruct is how to get the "heavy scutter" from
the locomotive to the brake-in-two during snow, rain, hail and cold and
over high bridges.....


 Then there's this:  Last Sunday I listened to the Prairie Home Companion
Joke Show on PBS.  They had one worth passing on:  "In Rome, do EMTs refer
to the devise used to get liquids into an injured person an' IV' or a
'four'"?   There was one more but my censor didn't like it.  Send me an
email and I will pass it on upon request.


 Time to pull the pin on this one!


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


 DXXXXI




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