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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with five of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We discussed the trains running this
Saturday and Sunday from Lynchburg to Petersburg pulled by the Queen of
Steam, J-Class #611.  Landon and I will be car hosts on the Cavalier and we
discussed the trips. This brought up the May 18, 1986 accident when the 611
was involved (coach picked a switch) just west of Norfolk, VA in the Great
Dismal Swamp.  At the time, our own Landon Gregory was on duty as
Dispatcher in Crewe, VA and he supervised rescue operations.  Gordon
Hamilton told the group about how the rail line was constructed through the
big swamp using Cyprus trees and ditch dirt to lay the base.  Landon then
told us about workers having to cope with the many snakes in the area while
construction was under way.  He said workers used stove pipes on their legs
above their boots to stop the snakes from biting them.  "It sounded like
hail on a tin roof sometimes" he said, because of the many snakes.


 For Show and Tell I took the July 2015 "Trains" with a cover photo of a
run-through oil train from BNSF to NS in Chicago 10/9/13;  Page 52 "Roaming
Locos" shows lots of NS units in the horsepower-hours sharing operation
(Wonder if the VGN ever traded power?); Page 72 shows an eastbound NS
auto-rack train 4/40/13 at the now closed Glen Lyn power plant with the
famous smoke stack in the background; page 12 shows the now famous NS SD60E
#911 painted to honor first responders.


 I also took a photo of 611 pulling NS special deadhead #956 with 23 cars
across the Southern trestle over the James River in Lynchburg on her way to
Manassas for the trips last weekend.


 The Jewel from the Past is from August 28, 2008:  "Shown was a photo taken
in the 1920s at Moneta, VA showing Mr. Robertson behind a team of mules
plowing his fields with a Virginian coal train in the background. This
photo was given to me at the recent Rail Day in Lynchburg by Rebecca
Tinnel, granddaughter of Mr. Robertson.  She remembered her aunt went to
Roanoke to catch VGN #4 to ride to Alta Vista to meet her fiance and get
married.  The family discovered the 'plot' and Mr. Robertson flagged #4 at
his farm and took her off the train.  Rebecca said her aunt died an old
maid..."


 In response to Ron H., I will schedule later this summer, a current photo
shoot of the Brethren so you all can see faces connected to the Brethren's
names in this report.


 Norfolk Southern named its largest freight train classification yard at
Bellevue, Ohio "Moorman Yard" to honor Wick Moorman.  He retired 6/1/15 as
NS Chief Executive Officer and is now Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The Brethren agreed this is quite an honor and one said "I'm glad they
didn't name it the "Stuart Saunders Yard".


 Then there's this:  The doctor that had been seeing an 80-year old woman
for most of her life finally retired.  At her next checkup, the new Doctor
told her to bring a list of all the medicines she had been prescribed for
her. As the doctor was looking through these, his eyes grew wide as he
realized Grandma had a prescription for birth control pills.  "Mrs. Smith,
do you realize these are BIRTH CONTROL PILLS?  "Yes, they help me sleep at
night."  "Mrs. Smith, I assure you there is absolutely NOTHING in these
that could possibly help you sleep!".  She reached out and patted the young
Doctor's knee..."Yes, dear, I know that.  But every morning, I grind one up
and mix it in the glass of orange juice that my 16 year old Granddaughter
drinks.  And believe me, it definitely helps me sleep at night."


 Time to pull the pin on this one!


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


 DLXII


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