in1946 the SP changed the name from Southern Pacific Lines to Southern Pacific.It has to do with the SP subsdiary railroads merged into a single entity.
SP didn't merge Central Pacific until 1959, and T&NO (Texas Lines) until 1961. T&NO didn't merge various pieces (Houston & Texas Central among others) into T&NO until the 1950s. I think the change was more of a marketing move.
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