"Takin Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with four of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway. After some discussion of the latest
news from Florida about the shootings and the alligator at Disney, Gordon
Hamilton presented us with sort of a quandary " I came out of Florida three
times but only drove there twice." The answer was that even though we all
knew he grew up in Princeton, WV, he was born in the Sunshine state.


 For Show and Tell I took a photo from last Monday that l took at the
Virginian Station in Roanoke just after our sign went on the stone wall at
the intersection of Williamson Road and Jefferson Street.  I have posted
this shot on this site under "Skip's Photos".  As I was shooting the
picture it occurred to me that it has been quite some time since my flabber
has been so gasted!  See photo!!


 The Jewel from the Past is from February 26, 2009:  "Raymond East and
Cornbread Victory were talking about yard activity on the old VGN and it
was established that the yard limits in Roanoke for the VGN were from
Buzzard Rock Forge on the east to the Belt Line on the west.  Ruf Wingfield
and Landon Gregory got into a grand discussion about getting trains out of
town on cold nights when it might take hours to get the necessary 60 pounds
of air on the caboose.  They remembered 'Cricket' Long, a VGN carpeck who
tested one train and then went to the third unit of a coal train and went
to sleep.  He could not be found for several hours to test the next train.
When found 'Cricket' was given a 30-day sleep break'".


 As we near the finish line on the restoration of the VGN Station in
Roanoke, I keep the Brethren posted on the latest developments each
Wednesday night.  I told them of wiring up our VGN two mast signal in the
landscaping of the Station.  This original VGN signal has been wired at
this time to indicate a "high green" for viewers.  Former VGN Operator
Landon Gregory and NRHS Roanoke Chapter member Fred Boettner, retired GE
electrical engineer have been asked to program it to continually display a
series of VGN signals from STOP to RESTRICTED.


 Then there's this:  An Amish farmer and his young son traveled to the big
city for the first time to deliver some custom furniture they had made for
a mall store.  At the mall, after the delivery, they were observing the
sights, some for the first time, when an elderly lady in a wheel chair
approached two doors in a wall.  When the doors opened, the lady entered.
The doors closed and they watched as numbers above the doors went from 1 to
3.  The were amazed and continued to watch as the numbers went from 3 to 2
and to 1.  As the doors opened again, a gorgeous young girl walked out the
doors.  The Amish farmer turned to his son and said , "Ezekiel, go home and
fetch your Mother!"


 Time to pull the pin on this one!


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


 DCVIII




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