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

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Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with five of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway.  The talk of the night was a lot
about the record cold temperatures we have been experiencing lately and the
big snow around Buffalo, NY.  Wis Sowder recalled being "recruited" for the
"Snow Bird Special", a train out of Roanoke that went to Bellevue to keep
the big yard open.  Most who were on this adventure swept snow out the of
switches in the yard.  I was on this trip and when we got to Bellevue, Tony
Miller, General Foreman came on the train and pointed at me....."you have
line gang experience don't you?"  When I said yes, I was assigned to a line
gang that tried to keep power on during the ordeal.  I was working on a
pole during this event and came down;  jumped over to what I thought was
the ground to find myself inside a low gondola...The train passed through
"cuts" where the snow bank was taller than the train. .The best part of the
trip was living on the train, having a first class cook on board.  We were
greeted each morning with outstanding (almost as good as my Grandma
Craig's) biscuits and a 3 gallon pot of some of the best sausage gravy ever
made.


 For Show and Tell, I took the Fall 2014 "Biz-NS" magazine.  Most of this
issue is about the new life for the Roanoke Shops made "Top Gon" coal
gondolas.  Also "NS women making a difference" highlights the role that
women play in the NS System in roles filled by men in the past.  The "Top
Gon' project is in Portsmouth, Ohio where new "tubs" are added to the old
coal haulers.  In the "NS Women making a difference" article is one that
highlights Jessica Kappel, Mechanical Supervisor in Roanoke Shops.  The
Brethren don't recall any ladies in supervisory positions on the VGN...


 The Jewel from the Past is from April 24, 2008:  "I passed around a news
article found at the work session of the N&W (and VGN) Historical Society
this month.  It was dated January 17, 1938 and read 'For the firsts time in
the history of the coal business, a solid train of 100 railroad cars
carrying approximately 5,000 tons of coal briquets will travel from Glen
Rogers, WV to Toledo, Ohio for ultimate distribution to customers in
Michigan cities'.  These briquets of coal were made by the Old Ben Coal
Corporation from pulverized coal from the Beckley Seam at the Glen Rogers
Mine.  The VGN took the train to Gilbert and turned it over to the N&W who
routed it to Columbus for the C&O to pull to Toledo.  This train contained
enough for 700 families to heat their homes for the whole winter".
Ironically, the train passed through Williamson where the famous 1967 N&W
500 car record coal train passed.  This record making N&W train had 25
original Virginian coal hoppers.
 (Note:  I was assigned out the Motive Power Building to work with the
radio controlled locomotives and rode on the practice run out of Roanoke
several weeks earlier with 420 cars of coal to Norfolk)


 Wis and Raymond East talked about how crews were called in Roanoke for VGN
trains.  Wis remembered one the "Call Boys" named Jessee James (not the
outlaw) who was in his sixties but still called a Call Boy.


 Then there's this:  Doctor Gibson Davis gives us a report each week about
his wife's chickens and encounters with various predators on his large farm
in Botetourt County.  His wife has no roosters..."they're too mean" but he
enjoyed this story about "Old Butch"  Fred was in the fertilized egg
business.  He had several hundred young pullets, and ten roosters to
fertilize the eggs.  He kept records, and any rooster not performing went
into the soup pot and was replaced.  This took a lot of time, so he bought
some little bells and attached them his roosters.  Each bell had a
different tone, so he could tell from a distance, which rooster was
performing.  Now, he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency
report by just listening to the bells.  Fred's favorite rooster, old Butch,
was a very fine specimen, but this morning he noticed old Butch's bell
hadn't rung at all!  When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters
were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the
roosters coming, would run for cover.  To Fred's amazement, old Butch had
his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring.  He'd sneak up on a pullet, do
his job and walk on to the next one.  Fred was so proud of old Butch, he
entered him in the Brisbane City Show and he became an overnight sensation
among the judges.  The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the
"No Bell Piece Prize", but they also awarded him the "Pulletsurprised" as
well.


 Time to pull the pin on this one!


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


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