Golden Pig Service

[TheS.P.caboose]

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?

[kenneo]

I'm sure that they did. Golden Pig was a promotional thing, anyway - a Service Mark.

[TheS.P.caboose]

Thanks kenneo. That's pretty much what I was thinking.

[TomDiehl]

I always liked the logo. However, I thought the pig looked a lot like the Hatfield Meats pig with an engineer's cap on.

[AztecEagle]

Yep.I Sure Do MIss The Espee.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AztecEagle

Yep.I Sure Do MIss The Espee.

Me too.

[chad thomas]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BSJohnston

QUOTE: Originally posted by AztecEagle

Yep.I Sure Do MIss The Espee.

Me too.

Me too, or would that be Me three?[:D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by chad thomas

QUOTE: Originally posted by BSJohnston

QUOTE: Originally posted by AztecEagle

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[:(]

[TheS.P.caboose]

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.

[trcarson]

I always liked the IC's PIG, but being from east of the big river I saw more of them.

[Anonymous]

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

[nobullchitbids]

So, does that mean the pig chickened out?

[Anonymous]

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

[TheS.P.caboose]

Very true Hal. SP was the first railroad to offer stack trains. So many fond memories!!

[Anonymous]

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".

[CShaveRR]

Welcome, Stu!

(Stu Thomson is a longtime friend of mine, with impressive credentials.)

[chad thomas]

Well welcome to the forum Stu.[8D]

[TheS.P.caboose]

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.

[Anonymous]

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

[espeefoamer]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rgroeling

QUOTE: Originally posted by chad thomas

QUOTE: Originally posted by BSJohnston

QUOTE: Originally posted by AztecEagle

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[:(]

I guess that makes it Me five[:(].

[greyhounds]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nkpmikado587

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

Actually, the last figures I saw said that the truckload carriers such as JB and Schnieder have eclipsed the IMC's in volume.

The IMC's (Formerly called "Shippers' Agents") have been around since intermodal developed. They were a creation of misguided government regulation that often required a "shipment" to be two trailers on one car. Since the shippers only "shipped" one trailer at a time this regulation created a false need to "mate" two trailers as a "shipment. The IMC's were born. They put together on paper two trailers from two different real shippers and made up a "carload" shipment as essentially required by the stupid government.

They got market power by seperating the railroads from the real shippers and the rest is history.

[TheS.P.caboose]

Good information guys. Thanks to all.

[Anonymous]

RE: CShaveRR's intro of Stu:
I really miss the Espee as my first experiences railfanning the SP were standing in Dupo IL watching dark blue MoPac GP's and SD's with the occasional "bloody nose" SP flying past at near light speed. And they were the first with the double stacks. My favorite SP story was the time I was headed west on the Interstate in downtown St. Louis when I noticed an eastbound SP double stack on a totally overcast day and I had Kodachrome 25 loaded in the Nikon. I don't remember how I did it, but I got my car turned around and beat the SP to the East side and I was able to get a few photos of the head end power from below before the train headed into the "no-persons land" of East St Louis IL. Oh, and the K-25 turned out beautifully![8D]

[TheS.P.caboose]

QUOTE: Originally posted by lrenee

RE: CShaveRR's intro of Stu:
I really miss the Espee as my first experiences railfanning the SP were standing in Dupo IL watching dark blue MoPac GP's and SD's with the occasional "bloody nose" SP flying past at near light speed. And they were the first with the double stacks. My favorite SP story was the time I was headed west on the Interstate in downtown St. Louis when I noticed an eastbound SP double stack on a totally overcast day and I had Kodachrome 25 loaded in the Nikon. I don't remember how I did it, but I got my car turned around and beat the SP to the East side and I was able to get a few photos of the head end power from below before the train headed into the "no-persons land" of East St Louis IL. Oh, and the K-25 turned out beautifully![8D]

Great story Irenee. A lot of us, like yourself has fond memories of the Espee.

In my town, getting to Tehachapi, Cajon and Beamont there are a lot of wonderful memories such as yours.

Thanks for sharing!! [:)]

[eolafan]

Here is a thought I will share with you all...lots of folks used to complain about how the SP diesel units were always dirty...perhaps it was like an auto mechanic working on your car...somehow I trust a guy with a little grease on his hands and uniform to give me a better value on car repairs than some guy with a German accent in a white lab coat. My point, you always knew SP units were out on the road working hard as they had little time (and perhaps money later in their history) to wa***he units.