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Southern Pacific Railroad

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The Southern Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting mark SP) was an American railroad. The railroad was founded as a land holding company in 1865, forming part of the Central Pacific Railroad empire. The Southern Pacific's route miles has varied over the years but in 1929 the system showed 13,848 miles of track and in 1994 it had 8,991 miles of track. By 1900, the Southern Pacific Company had grown into a major railroad system that incorporated a lot of smaller companies, such as the Texas and New Orleans Railroad and Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad, and that extended from New Orleans through Texas to El Paso, across New Mexico and through Tucson, to Los Angeles, throughout most of California including San Francisco and Sacramento; it absorbed the Central Pacific Railroad extending eastward across Nevada to Ogden, Utah and had lines reaching north throughout and across Oregon to Portland.

On August 9, 1988, the Interstate Commerce Commission approved the purchase of the Southern Pacific by Rio Grande Industries, the company that controlled the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The Rio Grande officially took control of the Southern Pacific on October 13, 1988. After the purchase, the combined railroad kept the Southern Pacific name due to its brand recognition in the railroad industry and with customers of both constituent railroads.

The Southern Pacific was taken over by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1996 following years of financial problems.

The railroad is also noteworthy for being the defendant in the landmark 1886 United States Supreme Court case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad which is often interpreted as having established certain corporate rights under the Constitution of the United States.

Contents

Timeline

SP 8033, a GE Dash 8-39B, leads a westbound train through Eola, Illinois (just east of Aurora), October 6, 1992.
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SP 8033, a GE Dash 8-39B, leads a westbound train through Eola, Illinois (just east of Aurora), October 6, 1992.

Locomotive paint and appearance

Southern Pacific Railroad #4274, a type 4-8-8-2 "cab-forward" steam locomotive, leads a California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society excursion out of Reno, Nevada in December of 1957.
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Southern Pacific Railroad #4274, a type 4-8-8-2 "cab-forward" steam locomotive, leads a California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society excursion out of Reno, Nevada in December of 1957.

Like most railroads, the SP painted the majority of its steam locomotive fleet black during the 20th century, but after the 1930s the SP had a policy of painting the front of the locomotive's smokebox light silver (almost white in appearance), with graphite colored sides, for visibility.

Some express passenger steam locomotives bore the Daylight scheme, named after the trains they hauled, most of which had the word Daylight in the train name. This scheme, carried in full on the tender, consisted of a bright, almost vermilion red on the top and bottom thirds, with the center third being a bright orange. The parts were separated with thin white bands. Some of the color continued along the locomotive. The most famous "Daylight" locomotives were the GS-4 steam locomotives. The most famous Daylight-hauled trains were the Coast Daylight and the Sunset Limited.

Well known were the Southern Pacific's unique "cab-forward" steam locomotives. These were essentially 2-8-8-4 locomotives set up to run in reverse, with the tender attached to the smokebox end of the locomotive. Southern Pacific used a number of snow sheds in mountain terrain, and locomotive crews nearly asphyxiated from smoke blowing back to the cab. After a number of engineers began running their engines in reverse (pushing the tender), Southern Pacific asked Baldwin Locomotive Works to produce cab-forward designs. No other North American railroad ordered cab-forward locomotives, which became a distinctive symbol of the Southern Pacific.

During the early days of diesel locomotive use, they were also painted black. Yard switchers had diagonal orange stripes painted on the ends for visibility, earning this scheme the nickname of Tiger Stripe. Road freight units were generally painted in a black scheme with a red band at the bottom of the carbody and a silver and orange "winged" nose. The words "SOUTHERN PACIFIC" were borne in a large serif font in white. This paint scheme is called the Black Widow scheme by railfans. A transitory scheme, of all-over black with orange "winged" nose, was called the Halloween scheme. Few locomotives were painted in this scheme and few photos of it exist.

Most passenger units were painted originally in the Daylight scheme as described above, though some were painted red on top, silver below for use on the Golden State (operated in cooperation with the Rock Island Railroad) between Chicago and Los Angeles. In 1959 SP standardized on a paint scheme of dark grey with a red "winged" nose; this scheme was dubbed Bloody Nose by railfans. Lettering was again in white. After the merger with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, the side lettering became often done in the Rio Grande "speed lettering" style.

Unlike many other railroads, whose locomotive numberboards bore the locomotive's number, the SP used them for the train number all the way up to the proposed Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad merger. By the Rio Grande Industries era, SP had adopted the more standard practice of using the number boards for the road number.

Toward the end of the railroad's corporate life, Southern Pacific locomotives were known for being very dirty. Some railfans jokingly observed that the railroad's heavily used locomotives were only washed when it rained.

Passenger train service

Until May 1, 1971 (when Amtrak took over long-distance passenger operations in the United States), the Southern Pacific at various times operated the following named passenger trains:
Southern Pacific Railroad chair car (coach) #2425, assigned to the Challenger, makes a stop in San Luis Obispo, California on July 26, 1937.
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Southern Pacific Railroad chair car (coach) #2425, assigned to the Challenger, makes a stop in San Luis Obispo, California on July 26, 1937.

Locomotives Used for Passenger Service


Steam Locomotives


Diesel Locomotives


Preserved locomotives

There are many Southern Pacific locomotives still in revenue service with railroads such as the Union Pacific, and many older and special locomotives have been donated to parks and museums, or continue operating on scenic or tourist railroads. Among the more notable equipment is:





SP 1518 at IRM, July 2005.

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SP 1518 at IRM, July 2005.








For a complete list, see: List of preserved Southern Pacific Railroad rolling stock.



Company officers


Presidents of the Southern Pacific Company



Chairmen of the Southern Pacific Company Executive Committee



Chairmen of the Southern Pacific Company Board of Directors



Predecessor and subsidiary railroads


Arizona



California



Successor railroads


Arizona



California



Ferry service




The Southern Pacific Company's Bay City ferry plies the waters of San Francisco Bay in the late 19th century.

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The Southern Pacific Company's Bay City ferry plies the waters of San Francisco Bay in the late 19th century.






The Central Pacific Railroad (and later the Southern Pacific) maintained and operated whole fleets of ferry boats that connected Oakland with San Francisco by water. Early on, the Central Pacific gained control of the existing ferry lines for the purpose of linking the northern rail lines with those from the south and east; during the late 1860s the company purchased nearly every bayside plot in Oakland, creating what author and historian Oscar Lewis described as a "wall around the waterfront" that put the town’s fate squarely in the hands of the corporation. Competitors for ferry passengers or dock space were ruthlessly run out of business, and not even stage coach lines could escape the group's notice, or wrath.


Rival Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway operated a fleet of three ships which shuttled passengers between the San Francisco Ferry Terminal and the railroad's Point Richmond terminal. By 1930, the Southern Pacific owned the world's largest ferry fleet (which was subsidized by other railroad activities), carrying 40 million passengers and 60 million vehicles annually aboard 43 vessels. When the Santa Fe discontinued ferry service in 1933 due to the effects of the Great Depression, the Southern Pacific finally achieved the monopoly it had sought for so long. However, the opening of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in 1936 initiated the slow decline in demand for ferry service, and by 1951 only 6 ships remained active. The service was discontinued altogether in 1958.



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