Nostalgia & History > SP Construction Services train

What ever happened to the SP Construction Service train that was used to install fiber optic conduit along side of the tracks? Here it is parked next to the Mallet Shed in Dunsmuir. Seems like it would be a neat train to model.

Robert Morris Photography
http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/index1.html

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Was that back in the "SPrint" days?

Bob... Your photo was taken in 1998, wasn't it? I watched them head up the Siskiyou Line while they were working in the area. Also, in the later '80's I happened to catch that same work train down by Watsonville while they were installing the LA-SF segment of the Qwest cable. SPrint was a different company which was founded by SP, whereas Qwest was founded by Uncle Phil.

SP laid that fibre optic cable for Sprint with their telecom train beginning in 1988 and continued until 1993 or so. Free access to the SP right of way for the fibre optic cable was one of the main reasons Anschutz bought the SP. Made a small fortune when he sold Sprint to Qwest.

Do the arrangement of the letters in SPrint stand for anything in particular; like Motorola's "MOTRAC" on radios was a contraction of MOtorolaTRansistorized Advanced Communications and "MICOR" was for
MotorolaIntigratedCircuitOrientedRadio?

Just wondering if anyone knows.

Southern Pacific Railroad Intercontinental Network of Telecommunications

WAF Wrote:
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> SP laid that fibre optic cable for Sprint with
> their telecom train beginning in 1988 and
> continued until 1993 or so. Free access to the SP
> right of way for the fibre optic cable was one of
> the main reasons Anschutz bought the SP. Made a
> small fortune when he sold Sprint to Qwest.

Small?

JLY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WAF Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > SP laid that fibre optic cable for Sprint with
> > their telecom train beginning in 1988 and
> > continued until 1993 or so. Free access to the
> SP
> > right of way for the fibre optic cable was one
> of
> > the main reasons Anschutz bought the SP. Made a
> > small fortune when he sold Sprint to Qwest.
>
> Small?

To him, it was small.

Now uncle Phil can pay for commercials showing younger people helping old ladies, and being friends with a boy in a wheelchair.

One of the ex IC locomotives GP10 # 701 is on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway in Nelsonville Ohio. The Ohio Central railroad ended up with several of the locomotives. Most have been resold and most likely renumbered, The cable plow units made from cut down GE U Boat six axle units were still on the OC property last year located at Morgan Run, Ohio. They also had several fiber cable flat cars and a ex SP caboose paimted in the same scheme as the locos.

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SP laid that fibre optic cable for Sprint with
> their telecom train beginning in 1988 and
> continued until 1993 or so. Free access to the SP
> right of way for the fibre optic cable was one of
> the main reasons Anschutz bought the SP. Made a
> small fortune when he sold Sprint to Qwest.

SPRINT and QWEST (formerly SP Telecom) are two entirely different, unrelated companies, that just happen to both had their start at the Southern Pacific.

SPRINT got its start back in the 1970s, and the meaning of "SPRINT" actually has a half dozen acronyms. The first two are widely known as "Southern Pacific" but the rest of the word I've seen had different words. I've also heard that the word "SPRINT" was actually determined first, and the acronym (whichever it was) was formed later.

SPRINT was sold in the 1980s; I believe during the SPSF merger days. It was first sold to GTE (as in the company now known as Verizon), and then to a company called US Telecom. Remember the "US Sprint" commercials staring Candice Bergen, the then star of the Murphy Brown sitcom? The pindrop? The US was later dropped, so the name was simply Sprint.

When Phil Anshutz (then owner of Rio Grande Industries) both SP, he also started SP Telecom to take advantage of the railroad's vast right-of-ways for fiber optic lines (basically the same premise as SPRINT). Down the road, SP Telecom was renamed Qwest (I believe this was in 1995, when he sold SP to UP but got a sweetheart deal - continued free or cheap rights to the right-of-way for telecommunications purposes, a seat on the board, lots of UP stock, etc.) Qwest was still one of those quiet, fledgling fiber optic companies (most of whom ended up bankrupt or bought out by other companies) until it made a hostile offer for U.S. West Communications, the northwest's Baby Bell.

So to make a long story short:

SPRINT: Now a wireless phone company, that spun off its fiber optic and local landline business to a company called Embarq.

SP TELECOM/QWEST: Now a regional landline phone operator, MVNO (mobile virtual network operator - a "cell phone company" that leases capacity off of other companies; which coincidently happens to be Sprint), and owner of a national fiber optic network.

SP Construction Services: I have no idea who they are, or whether they were actually affiliated with SP Telecom (other than having a contract to lay fiber optic lines) or SPTCo, SPRR, etc. I would imagine if they were affiliated, that they could have easily obtained a retired SP locomotive but they owned some other locomotive. Or, not own a locomotive at all. They did have what appeared to be an ex-SP bay window caboose.

And if they were affiliated, why would they have used a logo that is eerily similiar to the SPSF logo?