"Takin Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

Fri Jan 20 10:28:29 EST 2017

Skip

I take it I was not the first with the correct answer.  I was looking forward to the calendar. 

Sent from my digital telegraph key
Jim S

> On Jan 20, 2017, at 08:45, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> That is correct.  Thanks for responding.
> 
> Skip
> ---- NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote: 
> 
> =============
> To me, a hickey (and I mean the tool) is a length of pipe as a handle with a sharp open hook shape on it for bending conduit or pipe. It is specifically for making tight or sharp bends. 
> 
> Jim Stapleton
> 
>> On Jan 19, 2017, at 11:31, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Kevin,
>> 
>>    I think you are describing a brake stick (baseball bat like device that brakemen used in the manner you said).  A hickey is something else.  If no correct answer is received, I will explain what it is next "Takin' Twenty" Report.
>> 
>> Skip
>> ---- NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote: 
>> 
>> =============
>> Mr. Salmon,
>> 
>> I think a hickey is a tool used by a brakemen. It is a lever device several
>> feet long with a small hook feature on the end. The hook feature may have
>> been of various sizes, say the 1/2' or 3/4" mentioned.
>> 
>> The device would help the brakemen turn a stubborn brake wheel ... gave him
>> additional leverage. It hooked on the wheel shaft, extended through the the
>> spokes of the wheel laterally and extend beyond the OD of the wheel. The
>> hickey gave the brakemen additional leverage.
>> 
>> See link for pictures:
>> 
>> http://www.mendorailhistory.org/1_railroads/brakemen.htm
>> 
>> Kevin Byrd
>> Chesterfield, VA
>> 
>> On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 10:24 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with seven of  the
>>> Virginian Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway.  Attending with us
>>> for the first time was Adam Sowder, grandson of former Virginian Railway
>>> Clerk Wis Sowder.  Adam is a Junior at nearby Cave Spring High School and
>>> is very much into computer science.  He told the Brethren about a program
>>> he is in that uses robotics in competition.  Adam looks so much like his
>>> Grandfather that we suspect he could have passed for Wis in the early
>>> nineteen forties.  Any robots on the old VGN?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I have looked anxiously every day since last Thursday for delivery of a
>>> Henry rifle in response to my challenge of last week.  Since none arrived,
>>> here is the answer to last week's inquiry:  Builders of the original rail
>>> line that goes through the Great Dismal Swamp in east Virginia used
>>> sections of stove pipe around their lower legs to fiend off rattle snakes.
>>> I have another challenge for you  prompted by something I found recently in
>>> a stack of VGN RWY Requisitions on General Storekeeper (form 666) dated
>>> 11-11-52.  It is a request for replacement of four hickeys (two of 1/2 inch
>>> and two of 3/4 inch) by Princeton General Storekeeper V. W. Miller.  If you
>>> know what a "hickey" is, send your answer to me on the back of a red L. L.
>>> Bean Downtek 65-fill down Baxter State Parka Size XL to my home address.
>>> The first correct answer will prompt shipment of a 2017 Norfolk Southern
>>> calendar.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I told the Brethren that I have been told that this year's J Class #611
>>> Excursions will have in consist an end dome lounge car off the California
>>> Zepher.  This prompted Landon to tell of a recent trip he made
>>> cross-country by rail (and ship) to Alaska.  When asked if it was cold in
>>> Alaska he responded "Yes, it was so cold I saw two beagles trying to
>>> jump-start a rabbit."
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I told the Brethren about the new security system that was installed in
>>> the Virginian Station this week as a donation by local vendor
>>> Audiotronics.  Also we now have installed the original Yard Office clock
>>> that used a Western Union signal to adjust to correct time every hour, in
>>> the South Yard Office.  This is the pendulum clock that VGN train crews
>>> synchronized their watches for standard VGN time for years.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> The Jewel from the Past is from July 16, 2009:  "When Rufus saw Bill's
>>> old photo of the Roanoke Yard Office, it caused him to recall a small wire
>>> hook hanging from the ceiling in the locker room that he could not
>>> identify.  He observed it for a long time and finally when he was
>>> transferred to the second trick, the answer came.  VGN Brakeman O. J. "Rap"
>>> Meadow was using the hook to keep his bag lunch from being invaded by large
>>> VGN rats".
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Then there's this:  Several of us were discussing dogs and what breed our
>>> kids and grandkids have.  Landon said he has a theory about why dogs drink
>>> out of the toilet.  "It's because the water in there is a lot colder "..
>>> Wis Sowder asked "How does he know that?"
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Time to pull the pin on this one!
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Departing Now from V248,
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Skip Salmon
>>> 
>>> 
>>> DCXXXVI
>>> =============
>>> 
>>> ________________________________________
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>> 
>> --
>> SKIP SALMON
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> --
> SKIP SALMON
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