Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific, nicknamed Espee from its initials, was an American Class I railroad network operating chiefly in the western United States from 1865 to 1996, run in turn by companies named the Southern Pacific Railroad, the Southern Pacific Company and the Southern Pacific Transportation Company. It began in 1865 as a land holding company, and its final corporate form, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company established in 1969, was acquired by the Union Pacific Corporation in 1996 and merged into the Union Pacific Railroad. Beyond its rail operations, the company also founded hospitals in San Francisco, Tucson and Houston, and its telecommunications network became part of Sprint Corporation, whose name derived from Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony.