Nostalgia & History > Monday Meets: Thieves!

Unlike you fancy-schmansy SF guys back in the 80's, we SP guys were doing some real railroading in New Mexico, by golly! While you were gliding by at speed on the Vaughn flyover, we SP guys were busy underneath stalling on the hills, dying on the law and trying to rebuild the Carrizozo Subdivision with ballast that shorted out the signal circuits every time it rained and ties so flimsy that they would break if dropped from any height.

Back in 1984, when we manly SP guys were afraid that you cleanly-attired, efficient SF types were going to take us over and spoil all of our fun, I shot this mid-year photo from Conductor Sammy Gholson's caboose as we passed a work train at Leoncito, up the track aways from Vaughn. Notice the TEBU unit with its guts hanging out of the pilot. The night before, some thieving engineer had swiped the lead unit to supplement his asthmatic collection of worn out, beaten-up power that was the pride of GM way back when it was built about six months before. Also note the main track, now overhauled for high-speed (40 mph, wind willing) service.

You ex-SF guys must still be lamenting that failed SPSF deal, eh? I mean, look at how well things went when UP sucked us up in '96.

Regards,
E.O.
Railroading is serious business.
Foaming is serious fun!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/14 10:41 by hogheaded.

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Yep, it is always greener on the other side of the fence. When the Rio Grande was part of the SP-UP takeover, we notice that the grass look green, but it had a strange taste to it. You had to spit it out or you came down with Omahainitis. I still feel queasy when I hear the words "Omaha Steaks" or Peyton Manning call out "Omaha, Omaha".
I stayed away from the Kool-Aid.

Gary A. Rich
Aurora, CO

And the takeover by UP created a meltdown...

>we notice that the grass look green, but it had a strange taste to it.

>And the takeover by UP created a meltdown...


Yeah. You two guys well-comprehend those times.

Nevertheless, I sense many of you are scratching, or shaking your heads (with, or without rolling eyeballs), so I'll explain some.

By the 1980's, the mismanagement of SP under CEO BF Biagini and his associates had pretty-well drained the railroad of funds, and its southwest traffic base was rapidly changing from boxcars to pigs and containers. To be competitive in this traffic with Santa Fe, SP desperately needed to overhaul the Cotton Rock, the Kansas City - Tucumcari line (that SSW acquired from bankrupt RI) and the the SP's former EP&SW line from Tucumcari to El Paso. The potential of this revived Golden State Route also was a significant bargaining chip in the anticipated SPSF merger. The problem was, SP had inadequate funds to do the job properly, and resorted to a flimsy overhaul designed to last until the SPSF merger got past the ICC (which, of course, it never did). Barring the merger, management hoped that the "improved" line would least hold up until they could figure out how to pay for more-substantial improvements.

A sizable number of we SP employees and managers were scared-to-death of the merger, since we reckoned that post-merger improvements and plant rationalization imposed by SF management (everyone assumed that SF would run the show) would cost us our jobs. Luckily for SF, UP became the railroad that nearly choked to death on SP, when it acquired it in 1996 from Phil Anschutz (who, like the storied railroad moguls of old, managed to make a killing at the expense of his railroad).

The photo represents this in a nutshell: a work train thieved of its power in desperation; right of way that looks like it was plowed, rather than upgraded. How could an SP employee who was honest with him/herself not get an inferiority complex? This had nothing to do with allegiance (which was admittedly wearing thin then) and all to do with the deteriorating condition of the railroad in which we had our lives invested.

What I tend to forget is that all of this is not generally known, especially amongst fans who are more into photos of locomotives and trains than socioeconomic history (this absolutely is not a bad thing). Even we former SP railroaders (as do rails everywhere) tend to have a distorted recall of this old reality, instead favoring to view things through the romance of "the good old day". To me, the photo also expresses this disparity - a nice romantic representation of former times, as well as a pointed shot to the gut of reality.

Anyway, that's my take on it, and I'm sticking with it!

- E.O.

Must of the problems that you speak of, are from the St. Louis twits. wag216

A stark reality of how it was! A friend of mine was an engineer at Sanderson, Tx. He told me many tales of borrowing or loaning power between trains he ran and how far he could make it in 12 hours (it got to where he rarely completed a run). The stories were interesting to hear but, painful to those who lived them.

Possibly the only time that TEBU's full light package was worthwhile!
Great post and story here.

I was born too late for this era of the SP, but was a teenager during the Anschutz years. The dying railroad I remember are 1990's memories of cheaply applied speed lettering paint, peeling away to reveal the tan primer beneath, Rock Island style tri-lites beginning to replace searchlights, iconic light packages removed & replaced with useless flashing beacons, "SP roman" number boards taking on a blockish & unfamiliar font, battered old freight cars, but in a shiny new coat of "Golden West Service" blue paint, the stout double track main over Donner getting a "diet", PR dept. derived catch phrases & mottos..."The spirit that won the west"..."No job is so important..." green & cream replacing grey & scarlet on the NWP, West Side, & West Valley, & mud pumping out beneath the jointed rail of the former "racetrack" of the Cal-P. I'm not going echo the popular phrase about what it all is now, but in retrospect, I miss those days. The SP was starting to become the CRI&P of 15 years earlier, but at least it had a better fate.

Desmond Praetzel, "4451 Puff"

One of the best quotes was from an Amtrak engineer in 1995, when news of the merger came down the pike. After some austerity created calamity (one that only the SP could pull off) he exclaimed: "I hope the UP comes in here and makes a 'real railroad' out of this s*** hole"...

Be careful what you wish for...

In continuing our discussion, please note the photo below, either of a UP train (photo left and right) after meeting an SP train in 1996, or, more likely, sort of a "fixed" meet: the aftermath of a SP derailment near Ancho, New Mexico in early 1984, as seen from Sammy Gholson's caboose.


SP's biggest train wreck came when Philip Anschutz pounced on SP like a grinning hyena. He looked like a savior, until he installed Edward Moyer as CEO. On flatland Illinois Central Moyer had "rationalized" trackage - notably converting double track into single - as an economy move that was perceived by many in the industry as a great success (comment, ex IC guys or gals?). Anschutz installed Moyers to perform the same task on SP for a very different reason: to drive up the selling price of SP.

Fundamentally, Anschutz had become a billionaire as a real estate investor, and to him, SP was just another piece of real estate. The new logos, 4449 tours and the like were propaganda designed to hoodwink employees into thinking that he was a dynamic visionary intent upon turning the company around, but the presence of Moyers belied that. Moyer was one of the apostles of the 1980's retrenchment school of railroading: cut into the bone for temporary stability (read: for continued access to credit markets) and stumble on in the belief that railroading would continue in a downward spiral.

Whether or not Moyers was privy to Anschutz's intentions would be interesting to know. Regardless, Moyers gnawed on SP to shore up the near-term bottom line - not only what little fat was left, but into the muscle, as well. Scrapping the second track on Donner Pass was the prime example of Moyer's actions, and his lasting legacy. In left-handed defense of him, possibly he simply was not grounded enough in railroad operations to comprehend what seems obvious. Flatland railroading and mountain railroading are whole different animals, and reducing capacity in the latter can have dire operational consequences, even in times of thin traffic.

Of course veteran SP managers should have, and perhaps did, vigorously opposed the Donner Pass debacle, but such "negative" talk could kill one's career. Moyer continued grinding away at SP's flesh, thereby shoring-up the near-term bottom line, until a sucker took the bait, probably the fish that Anschutz had been angling at all along: UP. UP was the perfect patsy. It had coveted SP for a long time, and UP's managers considered themselves wonder boys who could fix anything, now that they had so thoroughly absorbed the lessons of their most recent blunder, the CNW merger.

So, we all know what happened next. Anschutz's slickered-up SP financial statements were covering up the fact that SP was nevertheless still a sickly operation. UP choked and fell to its knees while devouring SP, as Anschutz uttered a scavenger's laugh and moved on. One has to wonder how all of this relates to the activities of the Oracle of Omaha.

Anyway, that's my take on it, and I'm sticking with it!

- E.O.

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According to you on your website and MDO Chronicles, either a speeding event or track problem

WAF Wrote:
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> According to you on your website and MDO
> Chronicles, either a speeding event or track
> problem

Really? I didn't think anyone ever looked at the Dome. Thanks for making my day!

Regards,
E.O.
Wx4.org

hogheaded Wrote:
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> Really? I didn't think anyone ever looked at the
> Dome. Thanks for making my day!


Looking at my statement, I can see how it might be construed as fishing for compliments. Actually, what I was reflecting upon is how few emails that I get re the site, considering that it is reasonably large, and has been around for nearly a dozen years. This is not a lament, just a curiosity, and I suspect that I'm hardly alone in this.

- E.O.

Enjoy everything you put on your site, Ed, tongue in cheek or not

WAF Wrote:
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> Enjoy everything you put on your site, Ed, tongue
> in cheek or not

Me too...

Posted from iPhone

>tongue in cheek or not

Thanks, guys! Frankly, I don't see how one can discuss railroading in a meaningful way without having a sense of humor. The way that I look at it, based upon a my own RR career, railroading is brim full of dunderhead moments that are uproariously funny. How can one ignore that?

Regards, E.O.

BTW, Ed, I loved your piece on train orders and the start of DTC on the Tucumcari Line. Lot of great pictures

Many years ago I worked for the Santa Fe in San Bernardino, which meant a lot of UP traffic going through on the way to Vegas. I'd hear the Santa Fe guys griping, "Now, look at the UP! There's an outfit that knows how to run a railroad". Of course the UP personnel would probably be saying, "UP doesn't know diddley squat. SP get the job done!" Then the SP folks would say, "SP is a wretched mess! Santa Fe, they're a first class operation!"

> Of
> course the UP personnel would probably be saying,
> "UP doesn't know diddley squat. SP get the job
> done!"

I guess that this is not totally out of the stretch of imagination...

- E.O.