Guys,
As I was on the topic of “Southern Pacific thread for everyone” I thought about the Cotton Belt and realized that I knew very little of this railroad. Where can I find some good info on the SSW. Was there ever a place where I could find all Cotton Belt powers running without Southern Pacific, or was it not possible?
Please enlighten me.
Zak, I highley recommend you pick up the Blue Streak Merchandise book by Fred Frailey. The book is about the family of Blue Streak trains that were the hottest of the hot trains on the SP/SSW/T&NO. To know about this train and its history is to know alot about the history of the railroads involved . The Cotton Belt basicly got the SP (and T&NO,SPs Texas rails) up into St. Louis. SP aquired the Cotton Belt (actually St. Louis Southwestern, SSW) in 1924 (I think). The Cotton Belt was kept seperate because the SSW was not subject to laws requireing the SP to solicit traffic for the Overland route. Therefore the SSW could and did solicit traffic for the Sunset route and the long haul. That’s why the SSW had sales offices in places like Klamath Falls, Or… A good percentage of SP equiptment belonged to the Cotton Belt. It was common to see several Cotton Belt locos in a consist. Even twards the end a good chunk of the new GP60s were Cotton Belt units.
Chad,
So though SP bought SSW but SSW remained seperate, would you say they were like sister railroads? I’m trying to understand how SSW could stay seperate thought being bought. Did SSW have seperate management too?
Little brother mainly. The Cotton Belt was treated like a Division by the SP. The Cotton Belt remained separate from the SP to the very end for one reason and one reason only. When the Government forceably separated the Espee from the Union Pacific in the 1920s, a condition was attached to protect the UP. The agreement was called the “Ogden Gateway” agreement. It required the Espee to solicite all traffic from North California and Oregon for movement via Ogden, UT and the UP. Naturally the Espee didn’t want to do this, so they needed a way to get around the agreement. The way around was to buy the Cotton Belt, and have the Cotten Belt salesmen do the traffic solicitation. If the Espee ever merged the Cotton Belt out of existence, they they would have had to solicite the traffic for the UP.
Friggin forum!!! I wrote this long response and it never posted. Man that ticks me off!!!
Overland politics kept the SSW independent. The SP was required to solicit traffic for the Overland where the UP would get a big chunk of the haul. The SSW was not subject to this requirement so the SP used that as a loophole and used the SSW to solicit traffic for the Sunset route where SP had the long haul ( a lot longer haul then the Overland too). So the SSW had sales offices on the west coast. I don’t know how management was structured but the SSW was firmley under the controll of the SP.
It’s also interesting that when they aquired the Golden State route from the Rock Island it was the SSW that got it instead of the SP. I’m not sure but I think it had to do with SSW already being a Terminal RailRoad Association (TRRA) member and the SP was not, so that avoided the SP haveing to buy into the TRRA. There may be more to it then that though.
I’m starting to see the light. We have these kind of situations in Construction. An example that I can give is our paving and grading company. They’re a union company but they also (same management) have another company that is non union. Also since the prestident of the company is 1/4 hispanic they have yet another company that falls under the minority rule, therefor they are able to get the chance to bid on jobs that the government will only give to minority companies. They do all of this and still have the same emplayees.
It’s called loop holes around the system and I guess that is what Espee used Coton Belt for. Personally, I like it.
Zak, You really should get the Blue Streak book, it is a great read and is not that spendy.I think I paid $24 for the one I bought for my dad.
Fred Frailey wrote an excellent article about the SSW vs MP, and later UP, called River Wars, which was in the May and June 1988 Trains Magazines.
Chad,
Where can I get this book?
Here is a used one for $10
BTW- it is a Kalmbach book.
I am not much of an expert on the Cotton Belt, but am going to jump in here.
My basis for interest in the Cotton Belt was a week i spent in Jonesboro, Ar in 1972 at a summer basketball camp at Arkansas State U. The dorm room faced the Frisco and Cotton Belt tracks and I watched trains of both. It was a great week…of basketball and of trains.
From that week on I was hooked on the Cotton Belt. The Blue Streak Merchandise became a cult hero to me. I read what I could on the train and the railroad.
I too highly recommend Fred Frailey’s book on the BSM…it is in the top 3 railroad books I have read. It is a great history of SSW / SP told thru the eyes of one train.
In fact at a certain time during the glory days of BSM, it became an obsession with the management. The train almost became larger than life and decisions were made that were right for the train, but not healthy for the railroads involved.
No doubt there are other examples of railroad interests that were based on corporate law, corporate accounting, or tariffs. This, I believe was probably the most extreme example.
ed
Here’s another book.
Another good Cotton Belt book is “Cotton Belt Color Pictorial”’ by Steve Allen Goen published by Four Ways West Publications, P. O. Box 1734, La Mirada, CA 90637.
SP bought a lot of locomotives on SSW credit because their record was better. Units were delivered for Cotton Belt up with the GP60’s and B39-8’s. There are 27 left unpatched I believe, GP40M-2’s, GP60’s and maybe a couple GP40-2’s. I believe all their GE’s are patched or retired. Cotton Belt units could be found anywhere on SP or former DRGW lines, as could SP and DRGW power be found on old Cotton Belt rails.
SP was controlled by UP on September 11, 1996; SP’s subsidiaries D&RGW and SPCSL were formally merged into UP on June 1, 1997; SP subsidiary SSW was formally merged into UP on September 1, 1997, so it was the last technical survivor of the SP family on paper. We’ll see who ends up with the last unpatched unit in a year or so, I guess.
Since I live on the old Cotton Belt, I hate to see them go.
The 1988 articles on SSW by Frailey were great I agree in addition to his book which I have in my library. I lived 30 miles from the Kansas City Division mainline in central KS and had many great memories of watching their trains blast across the Sunflower state. They may not have had the best looking or most modern eng fleet, but watching the Blue Streak fly through little Inman,KS was impressive. I also enjoyed photographing the Herington-Pratt local, mainly when they arrived @ Inman to switch the small ADM flour mill which loaded both sack & bulk flour. Cabooses were used on some mainline trains as late as 1992. After the UP merger, I lost interest in the Golden St Route and just doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. Of all the rrs in KS I watched in the 1980’s into the 90’s, the SSW was my favorite. Those were the good ole days–gone forever. Long live the Cotton Belt!!!