Bob Davis | Southern Railway | Oct 17th

Oktoberfest

Is history one more time.  We had a good crowd, and a very active one.  I think it’s safe to say everyone had a good time.  Don’t know how much money was raised in the 50/50 or other games but the chicken dance was a winner for everyone.  The “chicken” does a great job. Oktoberfest has become similar to Christmas; we talk about it, plan it, work on it and then in one night it’s over. What a letdown!  Thanks to all who made it a success. We appreciate all you do. Since I had so much to say last year about the gummy bears as a brown bag item, I can attest to the fact this year they were much better. Be careful what you complain about, they put you in charge of correcting it.  Everyone worked hard to make it a success and should give themselves a pat on the back; you deserve it!

Stage Coaches, Steamboats and Railroads

Bob Davis gave us a glimpse into the past and how we got where we are with the railway system. Seems they don’t ever plan to have passenger service again as it takes more employees, cost more to operate and you just can’t please everybody. The terminal was built before we had segregation and before we had a railway yard; the building had to be divided into two sections for black and white; that turned out to be a nightmare, so addition buildings were built to accommodate the overflow. Marianne’s building was one of these that was later turned into a lunch counter, and all manner of other things before it came to her. The railroad joined forces the Norfolk & Western Railway in 1982 to form the Norfolk Southern Corporation.

We had a couple of visitors, our own John Kerr, Jared Greene with BB&T was a guest of Chris Kerr and Autumn Sanderson with UT Speech & Audiology was a guest of Matt Hall.

NEXT WEEK: Susan Richardson Williams will be our speaker.