"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.  I told them about the Roanoke
Chapter's recent purchase by bid, of one of the Barnam and Baily Circus
cars.  It is the former N&W sleeper "Pike County".  This sale was made
horridly and a quick decision by our Board of Directors was  made to make a
very low bid since it was almost a "flood of the market" with two trains
involved.  We have gotten word and made the deal of the year for this piece
of N&W and Circus history.  More on this car later.


 This prompted a discussion of the Brethren about when the Fair (and
Circus, Wild West Show etc.) was staged in Roanoke just across Reserve Ave
from the Virginian Roundhouse and Complex.  I asked what kind of problems
did this cause.  Wis Sowder remembered the City sending police motor cycles
to patrol the street and keep the rail entrances open.  Raymond East
recalled the fireworks did cause a "pause in the action" every night.  Wis
said there was a house just across from George's Restaurant near the
Roundhouse.  He knew the family well.  Their house was positioned on the
fairgrounds.  "They would let the rail folks just walk through their house
and out the back door into the fair grounds".  Landon Gregory swore he
didn't attend the "side shows" but told us a lot about the "hoochie
choochie" girls.


 The ebay report this time has the following items sold:  VGN brass desk
paperweight for $44.96; 1914 VGN company pass for $21.15; VGN pick-axe head
for $24.99 and a 1915 post card of VGN 2-8-8-2 #600 for $30.00.


 The Jewel from the past like those in a 1887 Illinois size 18 15-jeweled
"#4 Railroad" with Roman and Arabic numbers 24 hour dial, is from
10-1-2009:  "Traveling to the restaurant last night, Ruf Wingfield and I
discussed the names of VGN switching jobs along what the Brethren called
'Wheat Street', a track off the VGN main line east of JK and north toward
downtown.  He recalled Bova Distributing(beer), Holdren's (refrigerators
and stoves), Junkyard (scrap iron, Southern States (farm supplies), one
coal tipple, and Heironimus Warehouse (department store in Roanoke).  He
also recalled the Stauffer Chemical Co. that took a tank car each day from
the Silk Mill.  They refined the contents, and some sort of salt was picked
up there in box cars afterwards."


 We also discussed the report yesterday that NS profits were up for the
first quarter of 2017.  Also I told them about meeting with the city this
week to decide the exact location of the Historical Marker that will be
placed beside Williamson Road about the Station.


 Then there's this:  An East Indian fellow has moved in next door.  He has
traveled the world, has swum with sharks, has wrestled bears and climbed
the highest mountains.  It came as no surprise to find out his name was
Bindair Dundat!


 Time to pull the pin on this one!


 Departing Now from V248,


 Skip Salmon


 DCXLVIII
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