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

[NW Mailing List]

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/shit.asp

David Jacobs
david.jacobs10 at okstate.edu
405-744-8840 (OSU)
405-372-6031 (home)
405-714-3494 (cell)


On 6/7/2012 7:25 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:

>

> Last night, on the 68th Anniversary of D-Day (NEVER FORGET!), I had 

> the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with eight of the Brethren and Friends 

> of the Virginian Railway. The buzz this week was about the photo I 

> displayed of the Norfolk Southern Virginian Railway SD70ACe #1069 

> Heritage Locomotive. This brought back many memories for the Brethren, 

> seeing the big EMD decked out in their colors! I read to them some of 

> the comments about this one, made by rail fans: "Finally a VGN EMD; 

> absolutely, positively the best one yet!; should be called 'eye 

> candy'; all she needs is a pantograph; what I looked forward to the 

> most since the beginning of the heritage program; classy!; NS just 

> knows how to make rail fanning better;'Bumble Bee'; Officially my 

> favorite; and 'I want one'".

>

> For Show and Tell, I took my latest VGN RWY purchase, a short globe 

> 1958 "VGN" lantern. When John Grabarek came up from Salisbury, NC to 

> "Take Twenty" with us last week, he stopped on his way at an Antique 

> Store between Rocky Mount and Boones Mill, and spotted it. I followed 

> up and found out that it is one of the last oil lanterns issued by the 

> VGN (1-1958 with serial number K4490). This Adlake Kero lantern is 

> obviously of lower quality than my other short globe versions, but the 

> real deal. Thanks John for the "heads up". It will be displayed at the 

> VGN Station.

>

> The first day of this month marked the 55th Anniversary of the last 

> VGN steam locomotive used on the VGN when fire was allowed to go out 

> of the 251, VGN 0-8-0 class SB. H. Reid tells it this way: Engineer 

> John Whitt and Fireman Winfield Sexton "moved five loads of new steel 

> materials for the 70-ton hoppers built at a rate of seven daily in the 

> Princeton shops". After "Takin' Twenty", this crew discovered 

> machinist inspector Roy Jackson Dobbins, "already choking the fire" on 

> 251. The crew used FM H16-44 #47 for the rest of the shift...

>

> The Jewel from the Past is from February 16, 2006: "I told the 

> Brethren about discussing the merger with Louis Newton, who was an N&W 

> Trainmaster at the time. He said before the merger, N&W crews grouped 

> Virginian RWY empty hoppers for a once a week transfer back to the VGN 

> at Gilbert, WV. On December 1, 1959, instructions were issued to 

> discontinue this operation. Newton also said that for about 10 days, 

> this could not be done, until all of the former VGN coal tipples could 

> be modified by N&W forces to accept the N&W hoppers with the 'peaked' 

> ends. This information helps explain why some suspected that VGN 

> hoppers did not have 'peaks' to help prevent N&W hoppers from using 

> certain VGN customer's coal tipples".

>

> Passed around was the July "Trains" magazine. This one has a great map 

> of the month of N&W/VGN coal operations west of Roanoke. Also 

> highlighted are the NS Heritage locomotives. Unfortunately the VGN was 

> not out in time for this. For a web site to see all the current photos 

> of all of the NS Heritage units go to:

> http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/Community/Heritage%20Locomotives/

>

> The ebay report this time includes the following VGN items sold: "N&W 

> and VGN in Color" by H. Reid for $19.51; eight photos and negatives 

> set for $56.65; Article about Tola, VA Bridge for $15.25; Slide of 

> H16-44 #21 in 1959 for $31.00; Slide of #138 in Mullens in 1958 for 

> $42.38; and a Slide of #126 and #33 in 1957 for $59.00.

>

> I told the Brethren about a bus trip from Roanoke to Spencer and 

> return on July 4, 2012 to see all of the NS Heritage Units and June 24 

> and July 7, 2012 NS Steam (behind 630) excursion trips. We may have a 

> Road Trip on the horizon.

>

> The "Why was it named Kumis" saga continues: The June 4, 2012 "Roanoke 

> Times" featured a photo of the Kumis crossing (US 460) in their "100 

> years ago today" feature.

>

> Then there's this: In the 16th and 17th centuries everything had to be 

> transported by ship, and it was before the invention of commercial 

> fertilizers, so large shipments of manure were quite common. It was 

> shipped dry, but if water got to it, it became heavier and 

> fermentation began, which produced methane gas, and if someone came 

> below deck with a lighted lantern...BOOM. After that happened, bundles 

> of manure were always stamped with the instruction "Stow high in 

> transit" on them so that any water coming into the hold would not 

> touch this volatile cargo, and start the production of methane. This 

> evolved the term "S.H.I.T." (Stow High In Transit)which has come down 

> through the centuries, and is in use to this very day. You probably 

> did not know the true history of this word...I always thought it was a 

> golf term.

>

> Time to pull the pin on this one!

>

> Departing Now from V248,

>

> Skip Salmon

>

> CDXXIII

>

> __._,_.___

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