Re: UP vs SP train length? That 70's Show?
Author: George Andrews
Date: 07-03-2013 - 18:05
Since the heyday of Espee in the late 1960's to mid - 1970's, several of their biggest commodities are no longer around, at least not in the same amounts :
Lumber -- From Oregon and NorCal to East and South
Sugar Beets -- Mostly within CA.
Iron Ore -- Eagle Mtn. to Kaiser Etiwanda & export
Refrigerated / Frozen produce -- Oregon & CA to the nation
Coil & Finished Steel -- from Kaiser and East Coast to Gemco, CA. and export
Finished autos are still hauled by rail, but now it's about even between import and domestic.
Intermodal has changed from mainly piggyback to double - stack containers, an Espee original idea !!!
Also, remember when making up trains, Espee was a tonnage - oriented Railroad, as exampled by the ditty I once read in an Espee phone booth on Tehachapi :
" Uphill Slow - Downhill Fast; Tonnage First and Safety Last "