The shield sign below the US 50 sign denotes State Highway 3N, which must certainly have been an alternate to the main VA 3, which passed to the south. It seems that 3N was superseded by US 50 with the interstate numbering plan of 1926, and I'm not sure whether the routes were co-located as of 1940, or if the state just hadn't gotten around to removing the old signs.

But as to the "R" sign directly below: It means make a right turn to stay on 3N. It boggles my mind that nobody in the 1920s hit on arrows as the superior solution. I suppose that's the sort of thing that's obvious in hindsight.

As a side note, it's fascinating to see clock-face, visible register, and odometer-style pumps on the same pump island.

The white columns and trees to the left give the station's precise location away, as 819 S. Braddock Street in Winchester - across the street from the glorious campus of the public but endowed John Handley High School.

The photographer was probably using a film pack of 16 sheets. After each exposure a tab was pulled, moving the sheet that had just been shot to the back of the pack. It looks like a sheet broke toward the middle instead of at the end where it should have separated. Kodak made film packs as late as the 1980s, when they were discontinued since the only person who knew how to load them finally retired,