Western Railroad Discussion > It could happen

Imagine this:

Union Pacific + Norfolk Southern = Southern Pacific

Have fun, be safe,
Bruce "Doc" Jones  Sierra Madre CA

I was waiting for that.

DocJones Wrote:
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> Imagine this:
>
> Union Pacific + Norfolk Southern = Southern
> Pacific
>
> Have fun, be safe,
> Bruce "Doc" Jones  Sierra Madre CA

You are late to the ball game.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,6054496

I have been reading all of the threads on the subject of UP + NS. I have already gone through the SPSF debacle which was denied on my Birthday on 7/24/86 as I pulled into Yuma, Arizona after an all nighter from Tucson Arizona as the Engineer on some lifter. Now we have this new situation with the UP looking to purchase the NS which went public on my Birthday on 7/24/25...what is it about my Birthday? I have seen on multiple threads about this line and that line changing ownership or trackage rights situations which to be honest I have no clue about. I went through all sorts of changes working out of Roseville, California when the UP took over the SP. Here is what I believe is going to happen when this does actually go through which I believe has a good chance. The company will be called Union Pacific. The paint scheme will be Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray. If I was one of the numerous Vice Presidents in Atlanta on the NS I might start updating my Resume, could apply possibly to the CEO too, Vena doesn't like to share! The ones who do make it through, Start looking for housing in the Omaha area...Papillion is nice! You will start to notice NS units stored around the combined system , PSR is the UP way with Hedge Funds really running the railroad. Numerous facilities on both sides will be closed and the people of all crafts will be let go. If you believe this is a rather dark look at things you are not on the inside! One small example...I have two kids working for "The Big Yellow"...their call more than 20 years ago, Engineer and a Conductor. The big shop in Roseville, California which in the day was a big operation. It is now a PSR ghost town. My Engineer son working out of Roseville had one of his two units fail electrically. He calls the roundhouse to send an Electrician out to take a look at the unit. He is told by the Roundhouse Foreman that they don't have an Electrician on that particular shift to come out and just set the unit out. I am guessing you are now getting my point. I believe the combined company will make lots of money if you own stock but pretty much everything else will suffer. If you think I am wrong please chime in, I would find it interesting to see other points of view! I have been retired 11 years now and my direct deposit of my Railroad Retirement will still show up on the 1st of the month.

You are 100% correct
 UP is like the Borg, NS will be
 assimilated!!!

DocJones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Imagine this:
>
> Union Pacific + Norfolk Southern = Southern
> Pacific
>
> Have fun, be safe,
> Bruce "Doc" Jones  Sierra Madre CA

My thoughts exactly!

Posted from iPhone

With regard to the comment about not having an electrician available, talking this week with a North Platte employee, since UP ended the GE partnership on maintenance there, unit availability is in the basement. Sounding like the last days of SP, put as many units on as you can round up and hope at least two will still be running at the next crew change. Allegedly Omaha has ordered very low HP per ton making any sort of speed strictly hypothetical. Morale is zero and everybody just keeps their head down and hopes for the best. A merger would be fun to watch, ought to make the SP meltdown look like a gleaming success.

Its more likely that they will take the Union from Union Pacific and Pacific from Union Pacific.

Reminds me of an old joke a out how the UP/SP combination was a merger of equals. The new name kept Union from UP and Pacific from SP.

RRBMail Wrote:
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> Its more likely that they will take the Union from
> Union Pacific and Pacific from Union Pacific.

sp3204 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am guessing you are now getting my point. I believe
> the combined company will make lots of money if you
> own stock but pretty much everything else will suffer.
> If you think I am wrong please chime in, I would find it
> interesting to see other points of view! I have been retired
> 11 years now and my direct deposit of my Railroad Retirement
> will still show up on the 1st of the month.

While your son has to deal with resource starvation in Roseville, Yuma Sub is running monster Z trains with 6-7 locomotives (5x2x0, ZLAMN-ish or ZLAMQ-ish during my recent visit) which makes UP "look good" to the untrained eyes. It isn't even peak season yet.

I remember a retired ex-WP hogger telling me a "conspiracy theory" of how UP "forced" SD40-2 pool power to run amuck on the WP, so the accumulated lease hours would make the 1983 acquisition of WP "cheaper" on paper - corporate games.

The "sea-to-sea" propaganda is perfect distraction for the "railroad empire" foamers to fanatasize while the big money (elite shareholders who treated railroads like tech companies) to find the exit strategy for dumping their shares. Wall St. idiots (and other smaller money shareholders) will get screwed. This doesn't require the merger to "succeed."

I was looking at various railroad CEOs when this rumor started, and based on their backgrounds, no Matt Rose or Jim Young in there. I foresee bad decisions and panic (another meltdown?) after the stock manipulators are done. The recent coup that sacked the anti-PSR NS CEO (Alan Shaw) is now conspiracy-suspicious in hindsight.

Glad your Railroad Retirement is still good. In the meantime, I'm polishing my tinhat. :-)
 

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!

That will be more like it. 

Keep smiling!

Have fun, be safe,
Bruce "Doc" Jones, Sierra Madre CA