The Southern Pacific Transportation Company was earlier called the Southern Pacific Railroad from 1865 to 1885 and the Southern Pacific Company from 1885 to 1969.
 
However, most people usually called it the Southern Pacific (SP).
 
The railroad was founded by a group of businessmen in San Francisco, led by Timothy Phelps, as a land holding company to build a rail connection between San Francisco and San Diego.
 
Later they acquired the Central Pacific Railroad by lease.
 
On 25 Sep 1868 a group of men known as the Big Four purchased the Southern Pacific.
 
The Big Four were Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Collis Huntington.
 
On 8 Nov 1874 Southern Pacific tracks had reached Bakersfield and work began on the Tehachapi Loop.
 
On 5 Sep 1876 the first through train from San Francisco arrived in Los Angeles after traveling over the newly completed loop.
 
By 1900, the Southern Pacific Company had grown into a major railroad system, which incorporated many smaller companies.
 
The SP had noticeable social impact along its route.
 
Some towns, like Tehachapi with its apple and pear shipments, prospered because of it.
 
On 7 Dec 1906 the SP and Union Pacific (UP) jointly formed the Pacific Fruit Express (PFE).
 
The PFE was a railroad refrigerator car leasing company that at one point was the largest refrigerator car operator in the world.
 
By 1959 SP moved more ton-miles of freight than any other US railroad while the Pennsylvania Railroad had been number one for decades.
 
On 9 Aug 1988 the SP system totaled around 13,508 miles when the Interstate Commerce Commission approved the purchase of the SP by Rio Grande Industries, the company that controlled the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW).
 
The Rio Grande took control of the SP on 13 Oct 1988.
 
After the purchase, the combined railroad kept the SP name due to its brand recognition.
 
The SP subsequently was taken over by the UP in 1996 following years of financial problems.
 
The UP, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States.
 
The UP finished the acquisition on 6 Aug 1996 that was effectively begun almost a century before, with the purchase of the SP by UP in 1901, until divestiture was ordered in 1913.
 
Ironically, although UP was the dominant company, taking complete control of SP, its corporate structure was merged into Southern Pacific, which on paper became the "surviving company" which then changed its name to Union Pacific.
 
The merged company retains the name Union Pacific for all railroad operations.
 
The Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society will hold its 2012 Annual Conference in Ventura 11-14 Oct 2012.
 
Ed Gordon.