Back in the day when Southern Pacific was on its own they would carry Golden Pig trailors on some of their trains.
As the merger went thru did Union Pacific buy up the Golden Pig service as well?
I’m sure that they did. Golden Pig was a promotional thing, anyway - a Service Mark.
Thanks kenneo. That’s pretty much what I was thinking.
I always liked the logo. However, I thought the pig looked a lot like the Hatfield Meats pig with an engineer’s cap on.
Yep.I Sure Do MIss The Espee.
Me too.
Me too, or would that be Me three?[:D]
Me too? We three? Me four? oh whatever, I miss the espee too[:(]
Like all the above, I too miss the Southern Pacific. From the Golden Pig trailors to the sugar beet trains and the rest of what they offered.
I always liked the IC’s PIG, but being from east of the big river I saw more of them.
Gee, I would not know as only one pig a comes thru in the daylight here, (Oakridge,Oregon) unlike with SP which had 4 to 5 in the daylight including the Golden Pig. UP thinks its better to ruin at night in the cascade sub as the tunnels are to hot for daytime running I guess! Hmmm oh well I worked for SP here in the 50s and its a whole different ballgame now
So, does that mean the pig chickened out?
It is hard to believe even 9 years later, SP doesn’t exist anymore. Even after all the inovations they risked to make a railroad work. This includes the “Golden Pig” service, sugar beet trains, and open auto racks. This is called progress. By the way, my house is on the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Line and Sunset Route.
Hal
Very true Hal. SP was the first railroad to offer stack trains. So many fond memories!!
As I understood it from former SP people the Golden Pig service died long before UP got involed. The marketing department came up with the idea to attract more piggyback business. The new logo was used to jump start the program along with dedicated train service. After awhile however the operating department didn’t want to run the trains every day if loadings were light to save money. Soon the service declined and shippers used it less. The trailers started to be just put in regular piggyback service and the logo bacame just a marketing gimmick. While SP was good in some areas such as automotive and lumber it didn’t always have a commitment to service the customer in the same matter as CN with their “scheduled railroad”.
Welcome, Stu!
(Stu Thomson is a longtime friend of mine, with impressive credentials.)
Well welcome to the forum Stu.[8D]
Welcome aboard Stu.
It seemed, from an outsiders point of view, that SP was very strong with their lumber and automotive trains. Additionally they had the daily “oil cans” and seasonal sugar beet trains.
I did enjoy railfanning the Espee.
I would have to agree with Stu about why the Golden Pig service was discontinued(can anyone smell BBQ). Another possibility was the emergence of the IMC’s(intermodal marketing companies) At some point in time(including today) the IMC’s such as Alliance, Hub Group, CH Robinson etc. load more intermodal trains then all the railroad and trucking marketing departments combined. Even the fabulous JB Hunt sometimes has to share freight with the IMC’s
I guess that makes it Me five[:(].