Great video. My Dad was a. VP of the SP and met Dr. Don on several occasions. Don personally signed a copy of the SP book for me. its one of my prized possessions.
My father was the Assistant General of Communications-System and his department was the developers and creators of Sprint. At one time I think the railroad had the largest privately owned microwave system in the world. Left the railroad as SP began it's merger(s). Was given one of Mr Hofsommers books on the SP then also. Signed with appreciation by the then VP of Operations. As a note he was one of SP's first management trainees. He was promoted from a position as a lineman to a foreman. Then was sent (us to live ) in Texas as he attended Texas Western college (now UTEP) for the next 3 and 1/2 years to get his degree. He was paid that promoted salary to go to college... When he finished college he (we) moved to Los Angeles. He was given the supervisors district of communications position for that area. Eventual promotions he wound up at the corporate office on Market St San Francisco. To run the department of communications.
Especially enjoyed the part of the speech regarding loss of livestock struck by a train, which made the railroad liable for damages. When I worked for the Union Pacific in Palestine, Texas, one of the departments in our building handled property damage claims (which included livestock loss system-wide on the UP). That department's manager once advised that livestock struck and killed by a train (usually cattle) always involved young, prized animals. For example a cow (which would give birth to many prized offspring in her lifetime) or a bull (that would sire numerous prized offspring). The animal lost was never old or of ill health. Always young and genetically "top of the line". Not part of Dr. Hofsommer's speech, but something I find interesting was the origin of the round Southern Pacific logo with the tracks trailing into the setting sun. The story I have heard was that the logo was sketched by an employee of the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway (which also was unofficially known as the Sunset Route). By this time the Sunset Route had already come under control of the Southern Pacific. At some point, the sketch artist fell out of favor with his managers and was fired. His "Sunset" logo somehow made its way to SP officials in California that saw its value as a company logo for the Southern Pacific. End result, the fired employee was found and reinstated so as not to offend management on the West Coast!
The SP wouldn't have had a chance past 2008 the economic crash wouldn't have saved them. Had Philip Anschutz decided to expand more ops they would have survived past 1996.
