Whale oil delivery to Marion, VA

[NW Mailing List]

Gentlemen,

     The Pacific Whaling Company was a traveling maritime display. It 
consisted of several convertible flats & gons along with a baggage 
car/kitchen and sleeper. The star of the show was a @50' dead whale. It 
was preserved with lots of salt and embalming fluid. Also on board were 
various stuffed or preserved sea creatures from penguins to sea turtles. 
A small team of actors pretended they were captains and mates. They told 
the story of high seas adventures - all made up. Some enjoyed the work 
so much that they dressed as sea going officers for their remaining 
careers. For a dime, locals had several days to follow their noses to 
the display and see the marvels. PWC insisted that their troupe always 
traveled as an addition to a first class train, or as a special movement 
on freight only trackage. This endeavor was especially lucrative during 
the depression, as the outfit set up next to a downtown depot rather 
than out at the fairgrounds. It was easy for the city dwellers to get to 
it, which infuriated the other carnivals that were not allowed in center 
city.

     WJPowers


On 8/22/2018 7:12 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> All I can say is that there were pretty darn few whales located in 
> Elizabethton, Tennessee.  It’s located about thirty miles southeast of 
> Bristol in the heart of the mountains.  It was on the old Virginia and 
> South Eastern part of the Appalachia Division of the Southern Railway 
> and was abandoned some time in the 1930s.  Elizabethton was also on 
> the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina (Eat Taters and Wear No 
> Clothes) that connected with the Southern’s Knoxville Division at 
> Johnson City.  Number 65 was a freight train on the V&SE.
> Ed King
> *From:* NW Mailing List
> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 21, 2018 10:48 PM
> *To:* NWHS Mailing List
> *Subject:* Whale oil delivery to Marion, VA
> A post on a steam era freight car list this week gave this interesting 
> inquiry:
>
> "Reading some Dispatcher notes from Southern Railway dated 5/23/32. it 
> reads "No. 65 picked up Pacific Whaling Car 601 from Elizabethton to 
> Bristol in route to Marion, Virginia. Anyone have a photo of a Pacific 
> Whaling car?  Or know more about this?"
>
> Subsequent discussions suggest that this was a tank car of whale oil. 
> Any thoughts from our group on this subject? Shipment information, who 
> in Marion might have use for a tank car load of whale oil, etc?
>
> I am originally from Marion, so this is an exotic and interesting item 
> to me.
>
> Brent
> ________________________________
> Dr. J. Brent Greer
>
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