This morning, Monday, June 27th, I started on the ninety year old gas tank. The strainer in the filler neck is still in good condition. The fuel, by the way, could be either a mixture of kerosene and oil or gasoline and oil, according to the Operator's Manual. On one side I found where a hole had been patched. It wasn't along the bottom or in a corner but half way up one side. When I started on the opposite side, there was a patched hole there too! I could understand holes being on the bottom but why half way up and the two holes matched in location. Then it hit me! They were bullet holes! Like other railroads there were labor strikes on the Virginian and Greg Elam of Victoria relates how some of the VGN men told him of having their trains shot at during strikes. A shot through the gas tank would disable this motor car for a while. The small white arrow indicates one of the two patched holes. The other hole is on the other side.
Another picture shows what the motor car operator would see looking down at his controls. The windshield is ahead. The spark advance and drip feed are painted dark green, the color found under layers of other colors of paints. A little of the bright red gas tank is seen. The brass plate in front of the controls has the characters, "VGN 109" stamped in and also an N&W number 64033 which is upside down. It some circles the upside down placement is the ultimate insult. I didn't make this plate, it was on the car for a long time when I received it. On the right is the electrical control. The white slide was actually the key and it could be positioned so that both cylinders or just one cylinder could run.
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