Interesting Video about heritage units mentions Union Pacific 'Lore'

General
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Hey all

I’m currently watching a video by The Winnepeg Railfan, featuring Cowl Unit Productions, Southern Plains Railfan, Pensyfan19, and History For Everyone Productions, and well, one of them explains the ‘Lore’ behind Union Pacific, saying that Southern Pacific Merged with Union Pacific, they took over and assumed UP’s corporate identity, and when the Rio Grande merged with Southern Pacific the Rio Grande took over the corporate identity of SP, therefore making Union Pacific the Rio Grande with 8,000 Heritage units in UP paint :thinking:

Here’s the video:

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Be very careful about assuming that because a given ‘corporate identity’ was retained in a merger or takeover, the board and officers of that corporate entity ‘as it was’ exercise control.

Also look up Philip Anspach’s history with the railroad industry…

That’s also not to say an ‘acquired’ company’s management may not exercise control over the merged shebang. I, and many others, attribute part of Boeing’s current woes to putting former McDonnell-Douglas people in positions of postmerger corporate authority.

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Thanks Woke will look into that

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It’s Philip Anschutz.

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While the Boeing example is approiately mentioned. i.e. Results don’t lie.

IIRC When SP was merged, a huge mess occured at Houston. It took an old SSW guy to get it straight. Instead of “by the book” operations, he called his counterparts and they used common sense to preblock before Houston. The point to be made: Sometimes the best answer is found “down the ladder” and NOT from management.

As I carried crews in a van, they would lament the poor decisions made by managers who had NOT ever been out in the field operating trains. My van riders comment: “These guys don’t know how to run a toy train much less a real RR.”

Once a conductor (new hire) asked me what to do! What? Then too an old timer RR official who was in charge of building a hump yard said. I could not depend on these professional enginners telling us what to do. I needed simple MOW experienced people to get the job done. This official wore a three piece suit. At an accident site, when he arrived, he took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves. A real RR man. endmrw0527251354

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Thanks – getting too old.

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When the UP and SP merged, the SP was the surviving corporation and the name was immediately changed from SP to UP. I’m sure there is a reason, probably involving monetary considerations of some kind, for doing this.

The merger made Anschutz the largest single stockholder in UP. I believe he remained so for some time afterwards.

Jeff

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Maybe this video would help?

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The original UP was incorporated in Utah the SP was incorporated in Delaware which is a more business friendly state. So technically the SP absorbed the UP then changed it’s name into the UP to gain the benefits of being incorporated in Delaware rather than Utah.

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One of the reasons that Southwest did as well as it did was that management paid attention what the folks “down the ladder” had to say.

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It has long been accepted that, when BN took over the Frisco, Frisco management moved in and displaced many of the BN folks. Have no way to verify, but that was the story in the RR press at the time and afterwards.

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A lot depends upon where a company ‘selects’ its management from.

Does the carrier promote from within or does it rely on college ‘job fairs’. Those promoted from within have worked the first level positions that facilitate the operation. Those from outisde have a lot to learn just to get to the bottom of the organization.