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

[NW Mailing List]

  Not to quible too much Ed, but that was the Norfolk Naval Amphibious 
Base at the east end of the bay. NAS/NOB was at the west end,
at Hampton Roads and the Elizabeth River.
Tom Cosgrove

On 10/5/2010 2:20 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:

> OK let me chime in here.  I was stationed at Ft. Eustis, VA from 

> 1969-70 when I shipped out to RVN.  Ft. Eustis is in Newport News, VA, 

> just north of Norfolk.  Ft. Eustis was the USArmy Transportation 

> Center and I was assigned to the 714th TBROSD&E, the last active duty 

> railway operating battalion in the USArmy.  We operated several 2-8-0 

> and Alco diesels. http://www.eustis.army.mil/

>

> Ft. Story was just across the creek adjacent to Norfolk Navy Base and 

> was the home of the USArmy LOTS training (logistics over the shore).  

> Some fellow 2LTs I went to Transportation Basic Course with served 

> over there before shipping out as well.  The Army used LCMs (Mike 

> boats) as the Navy had the big guys (LSTs). 

> http://www.eustis.army.mil/Fort_story/

>

> The Army also had some former Navy amphib vessels in Vietnam just 

> north of where I was in Dong Ha.  I remember very clearly when we lost 

> a boat and crew to a mine in the Dong Ha River just south of the DMZ. 

> http://grambo.us/atav/yboat.htm

>

> Nobody would have left either place (nor could have) in that time 

> frame and would have shipped out via Norfolk Navy Base to Europe or in 

> Oakland to Pacific bases.  GENERALLY only full units shipped out via 

> vessel, not replacements.

>

> *Ed Svitil*

> *Norfolk & Western Railway*

> **

>

>

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2010 13:05:46 -0400

> To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org

> Subject: Re: "Takin' Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

> From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org

>

> Can't speak to this directly, as I wasn't born until 1954, BUT my 

> father's Marine Corps Reserve outfit (AMTRACKS) got shipped out of 

> Norfolk,

> by sea, and ended up in San Diego, before crossing the next leg to 

> Japan for duty in "Korean Conflict".

> Tom Cosgrove

>

>

> On 10/1/2010 4:45 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:

>

>     Wasn't there an Army Supply Depot or something a bit south of

>     Sewells Point on the water?  I have a vague recollection of a

>     troop train going by my (parents) house a few blocks from the

>     Granby Ave crossing around 1950.  Or have I seen so many pics of

>     the MB on a troop train that now I think I saw it . . .   (I've

>     been told that troops were sometimes transferred to ships at the

>     Oakland  (CA) Army Supply Depot in the late 1950s.)

>

>     pete groom

>     On Sep 30, 2010, at 4:43 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:

>

>         Thank you Skip, and to the VIRGINIAN BRETHERN for answering my

>         question about Troop Trains. John Katz

>

>         ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>         Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2010 08:44:44 -0400

>         To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

>         Subject: "Takin' Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren by Skip

>         Salmon

>         From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

>

>         Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with seven of

>         the Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. I mentioned

>         to the Brethren about the new header photo on this site

>         showing "downtown" Victoria when she first became a rail town.

>         I passed around a copy of the September 27, 2010 "Richmond

>         Times-Dispatch" article about "Hopeful signs in Victoria as

>         town gears up for fall festival", this weekend. Greg Elam is

>         to be commended for providing the Richmond paper information

>         for this piece. "I've told people recessions come and

>         recessions go, but we've been in a recession for 50 years,"

>         said Greg Elam, a member of the Town Council who led the

>         acquisition of the caboose for the town's park, and remains

>         its caretaker". I'll add that Greg had a hand in everything

>         associated with, and the securing of, the Rail Park, including

>         the low sided Virginian gondola that the Roanoke Chapter NRHS

>         donated. If you can make it to Victoria this Saturday, be sure

>         to give Greg a big thank you for his untiring and faithful

>         service to the cause!

>

>         Also passed around were the Summer 2010 "NRHS Bulletin" and

>         "Trains Locomotive 2010, The magazine of today's motive

>         power", which featured the NS 999 battery powered locomotive.

>

>         I mentioned to the Brethren that I spoke to John Euton at the

>         last Motive Power Supervisor's breakfast about doing an

>         article on the slug that was made from a Virginian EL-C

>         shortly after the merger. John worked on this project and gave

>         me some information and will give me more, as I do the

>         research. The pantograph stripped EL-C was modified with

>         electrical equipment to be connected to a Virginian

>         Trainmaster for remote power for yard service. John said that

>         this set-up worked well at the Shaffers Crossing hump. More on

>         this later.

>

>         The Jewel from the Past is from September 16, 2004:

>         Communications were discussed, and it was clear that the

>         operating department of the Virginian Railway did not have

>         radios until almost right before the merger with the N&W. They

>         then only had the heavy portable type in the cabs and the

>         signal went from the cab antenna to a small one when they left

>         the caboose. Cabooses were equipped with an antenna in the

>         center of the cupola for road communication. Locomotives had a

>         permanent one. Hand signals during daylight, and lanterns at

>         night, were the primary means of communication before the

>         radios were used. With trackside train signals at only a few

>         locations, and train orders and good watches being used for

>         meets, a constant vigil was required for a safe trip".

>

>         I showed the Brethren the first day cover that the Big Lick

>         Stamp Club issued last Saturday at their meeting to celebrate

>         the 100 anniversary of the VGN Station in Roanoke. Several of

>         the Brethren bought this VGN collector's item. I purchased

>         some of these covers along with protective sleeves and had the

>         Grandin Road Post Office place the cancellation on them. This

>         makes this item an instant piece of history and is already a

>         collectors item for VGN memorabilia collectors. The Club also

>         placed their cancellation on them which shows the Station,

>         Mill Mountain with Star, and a VGN Steam locomotive in the

>         background, on the ones I purchased. I am selling them as a

>         fund-raiser for the Station. Contact me off line if you want

>         some. At the Show I handed out the Station flyers and had one

>         avid stamp collector make a substantial contribution to the

>         Restoration Fund.

>

>         From last week's report I got a question from the N&WHS

>         mailing list asking "Did military movements unload at Sewalls

>         Point, which was adjacent to the Naval Air Station and ship

>         piers?" Wis Sowder and Glen McLain, who were clerks at Sewells

>         Point and Norfolk, do not remember ever seeing or hearing

>         about troops being unloaded at Sewells Point. Both also

>         commented that even though there were no unloading platforms

>         at the coal piers, the Army and Navy could have unloaded troop

>         trains there.

>

>         Landon Gregory and Frank Breedlove grew up on farms that

>         produced tobacco. Both remembered the VGN hauling the

>         "baskets" in box cars from Brookneal, Kenbridge, Leesville and

>         Altavista. For about twenty minutes, the two Virginian

>         veterans discussed the fine points of raising, weeding, bug

>         killing, harvesting, curing, packing and auctioning tobacco.

>         Both agreed that "cured" meant no moisture in the leaf. Most

>         of the "VGN" tobacco was bright leaf cigarette type which was

>         flue cured (heated in barns to remove moisture) versus the

>         Lynchburg "dark" type(N&W) that was used for cigars and pipes.

>         Frank Breedlove said that he remembered George Daniels, a car

>         inspector, who chewed all the time. Frank said "for the first

>         several years I thought he had a growth on the side of this

>         cheek before discovering he chewed". Landon Gregory said that

>         you could tell if a person was "level headed" if the tobacco

>         juice came out the same, on both sides of his mouth!"

>

>         Time to pull the pin on this one!

>

>         Departing Now from V248,

>

>         Skip Salmon

>

>

>         __._,_.___

>

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>

> -- 

> Tom Cosgrove

> N2VFK

> NREMT-B

> SKYWARN Spotter LME002

> Red Cross Disaster Volunteer since 1995

>

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-- 
Tom Cosgrove
N2VFK
NREMT-B
SKYWARN Spotter LME002
Red Cross Disaster Volunteer since 1995

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