Does anyone believe that this anticipatory painting scheme caused the STB to deny the merger between SP and ATSF? Federal bureaucrats do not like being "shown up", and when hearing this, (as a former bureaucrat), I can hear someone saying: "Who the hell does SP think they are?; we decide and now we decide no".
My understanding was that the ownership of the proposed merged entity was the problem. I don’t think “should’t paint so fast” affected the STB (or others’) thinking or deliberations.
I believe at least one careful historical account of SPSF has been written.
Paint didn't delay the Burlington Northern merger in 1970. CB&Q had U23C's and some GP40's delivered in BN colors.
The biggest issues from reading a book my husband has on the subject were two things. First off this merger would have created a virtual monopoly of all traffic between Chicago and LA and the Southwest. It would have also bankrupted the DRGW and the SPSF due to the condition of the SP at the time. The Santa Fe was doing decent as a Railroad the only thing that kept the SP afloat was it's real estate and other divisions. When the merger was denied and the companies where sold off to the investors the Santa Fe kept everything of the SP but the Railroad itself and sold that for 1.02 Billion dollars to the Rio Grande. The SP had more profit from its telecommunications line aka SPRINT that it did from the railroad.
Thanks to all who responded. My questions now are: What made SP exec's so sure of approval that they started the repaints? For that expense to be made "they' must have thought approval was a foregone conclusion. Yet, the responses indicated that the STB had BIG issues with the merger; were SP and ATSF not then aware? Or were the SP exec just simply that foolish?
Obviously CB & Q had a good/valid reason to presume approval was forthcoming (as it was). I've seen nothing that indicates SP had reasons to believe approval was coming. That's why it just seems foolish to me that they did so.
Do you know how I could get that careful historical account of SPSF?
Watch this video interview with Robert Krebs. Lots of inside info about the SP in that era.
Spirit of the Railroaders: Robert D. Krebs - (Part One) The Southern Pacific Years - YouTube
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