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

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with eight of the 
Brethren and Friends of the Virginian Railway. We signed cards for Rufus 
Wingfield, who is in Friendship Rehab Community, Landon Gregory who had 
heart surgery on Tuesday, and Raymond East who turns 86 years old today. 
Landon had to cancel a month long trip to Hawaii for the quadruple 
bypass on Tuesday and is recovering well today. Raymond East started at 
Victoria on the extra board as a road fireman in 1951. He moved to the 
yard in Roanoke in 1955 and became a yard engineer. Raymond served in 
combat during the Korean Conflict and retired from Norfolk Southern with 
36 years service. I recently taped an interview with Raymond in front of 
VGN #4, the last remaining VGN steam locomotive that is on display at 
the Virginia Museum of Transportation. He told of firing the switcher at 
Suffolk and working the peanut plants there.

 From last week, I got several responses concerning the possible 
unloading of troop trains near Sewells Point during WWII. Retired 
Virginian Clerk, Robert "Little Abner" Glass, who still lives in 
Norfolk, said that he thinks "troops were unloaded at an Army Base just 
west of Sewells Point at Wards Corner". Pete Groom referred to an Army 
Supply Depot "a bit south of Sewells Point on the water" where troops 
could have been delivered.

I pasted on to the Brethren a post card from Ronald Mattox with a photo 
of VGN caboose 342 and "Victoria, Virginia" proudly displayed on the 
front that read: "The annual reunion of former Virginian Railway 
Employees and friends will be held on Saturday, October 30, 2010 at the 
Victoria Restaurant". Plans are being formed for our annual "road trip" 
to this Gathering.

The Jewel from the Past like my Hamilton 992B, 21 jewel with gold center 
wheel and Wadsworth case, just purchased on ebay, is from October 21, 
2004: "We talked about the 1907 Jamestown Exhibition that the VGN played 
a key part. Henry H. Rogers had President Teddy Roosevelt dock his 
yacht, the "Mayflower", conveniently next to the 'under construction' 
Sewells Point Pier. Slick Inge told a story of Will Rogers docking his 
yacht "Kanawha" on the Eastern Shore of VA and offering the crew to join 
him for a meal at the famous Chamberlain Hotel. They refused saying that 
'their job was to take care of him and the yacht'. 'Slick' Inge also 
told about Will Rogers being on a train that stopped at Mullens on a 
curve. Dr. B. W. Steele had one of the few cars in Mullens, and cleaned 
it up and set it on a knoll between the tracks and the town. Twain was 
asked what he thought of Mullens, he said 'if you'll move that d--- 
automobile, I'll tell you'".

I passed around the November 2010 "Trains" magazine, one of the best 
that has been published. The theme is "The greatest of yesterday" and 
covers the 70 year anniversary of the publication. The inside cover is 
worth the price of one copy featuring Norfolk Southern, "one line, 
infinite possibilities" with photos highlighting "one line connects our 
past to our future". The "map of the month" on page 56 includes a 
"family tree" of NS with a VGN herald standing out! Also this issue has 
a very nice obituary of former N&W president John Fishwick where NS CEO 
Wick Moorman said that Fishwick "was a visionary leader and principal 
architect of today's NS". Also featured in this issue is the NS Research 
#34 Track Geometry Car. An interesting statistic listed NS as having the 
least number of stored locomotives at this time of all Class 1 Lines 
with 88. CSX has 165 stored and UP has over 1200 not in service. How 
many locomotives did the VGN have at one time?

Also passed around was a flyer that I will give out this Saturday and 
Sunday at "Historic Appomattox Railroad Festival". The Roanoke Chapter 
NRHS is providing a train for display, consisting of the Chapter's EMD 
N&W GP30 #522, N&W Tool Car #1407 and N&W Caboose #518409. NS is moving 
this train from Roanoke to Appomattox, VA on Friday afternoon and 
Chapter member, and NS engineer, Percy Wilkins has been assigned 
engineer for the trip. I will represent the Virginian Railway with 
displays and the sale of VGN items as a fundraiser for the VGN Station 
Restoration Project, on the #1407.

While discussing the probability of troop trains being unloaded at 
Sewells Point, several of the Brethren who worked there "went down 
memory lane" and recalled other activities in and around Norfolk while 
working for the VGN at the eastern terminal. Some I can not repeat but I 
will tell you the term "hoochie coochie" was used frequently...

Time to pull the pin on this one!

Departing Now from V248,

Skip Salmon

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