In his book Riding the Rails, Robert Krebs mentioned that John Schmidt was a Santa Fe lifer, but always in their legal department; he had little if any experience in dealing with the I.C.C. Schmidt was sure they would "... approve the SP - SF merger with NO conditions. " ( Cal - PUC had other ideas. ) There was also a lot of " Pre - Merger Planning " , such as a new paint scheme, and new connections between the 2 railroad's lines at important junctions, that Krebs felt helped to sour the I.C.C. on the deal.