"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 were greeted by one of our former
waitresses at Country Cookin' with her three children,the oldest one six
years old.  She told us that she last worked there when she was pregnant
with the oldest.  She commented "I can't believe you all are still coming
here every Wednesdaynight"...


 For Show and Tell I took the April 2016 "Trains" magazine.  Pages 38-45
have a great expose "Box Cars still matter".  Page 45 has a graph with the
top 10 boxcar commodities of today.  The are "pulp board, wood pulp,
automotive parts, coated paper,  beer, scrap paper, wood chip board,
plywood, uncoated paper and newsprint. As you can see, a large portion of
this is paper products or those associated with paper.  I asked the
Brethren what they recall the VGN carrying in box cars.  Landon Gregory
told about the special cars dedicated to the VGN train 72 which provided
"just in time" service for the Ford truck plant in Norfolk.  Wis Sowder
worked the box cars dedicated to the cedar chest and other furniture
products made at the Lane factory in Altavista. Raymond East remembered
working the peanut plants in Suffolk and spotting box cars there.  Other
products they saw on the VGN hauled in box cars included cereal, beer,
cigarettes, tires, bananas, limestone, feldspar, hides and automobiles.


 The Jewel from the Past like those in a 21 jeweled Ball 999B "Official RR
Standard" with box car numbers is from January 15, 2009:  "Cornbread wasn't
with us because of recent surgery, but a story about him made it. Seems his
new lady friend "Choo Choo" and he were at a restaurant recently, and her
Vietnamese-English made ordering for her somewhat a challenge.  He was
overheard ordering for her "diet water"...


 The ebay report this time includes the following VGN items sold:  Adams
Express Virginian RR brass-head wax sealer from Page for $140.27; Virginian
"Police" badge #17 for $300.00; Smoothing hatchet-axe marked "VGN RY" for
$27.01, and copy of H. Reid's "N&W and Virginian Railways " in color for
$79.00.


 Then there's this:  One day Mom was out and Dad was in charge of their
just-turned-three daughter Alice. Someone had given Alice a little teas set
for her birthday.  Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening
news when Alice brought Daddy a little cup of "tea"., which was just
water.  After several cups of "tea" and lots of praise for such yummy tea
from Daddy, Mom came home.  Dad made her wait in the living room to watch
Alice bring him a cup of tea.  Mom waited, and sure enough, the kid came
down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy.  She watched him drink it up and
then said to him.  "Did it ever occur to you that the only place Alice can
reach to get water is the toilet?"


 Time to pull the pin on this one!


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


 DXCVII




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