David buys Goliath - When the Rio Grande bought the Southern Pacific

How do! :D

In 1988, one of America's smallest railroads purchased one of its largest, when the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, facing a rapidly contracting market, successfully bought the financially ailing Southern Pacific, creating a new range of intercontinental train travel between the Midwest and the Pacific coast.

However, this alliance, despite a major rebranding and huge investment in updating the ageing infrastructure inherited from the Southern Pacific, would only last eight years, as with the Class I railroads rapidly seeking to consolidate, leading to the merger of the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe, the Union Pacific followed suit rapidly by procuring the Southern Pacific/Rio Grande combine, thereby wiping away in one stroke two of the most famous names in American western railroading.

Chapters:

0:00 - Preamble
1:15 - Rise of the Rio Grande
4:05 - Deregulation Dilemmas
7:34 - Enter the Southern Pacific
11:34 - David buys Goliath
14:06 - Taking Third Place
17:44 - Uniting with the Union Pacific
21:18 - Conclusion

All video content and images in this production have been provided with permission wherever possible. While I endeavour to ensure that all accreditations properly name the original creator, some of my sources do not list them as they are usually provided by other, unrelated YouTubers. Therefore, if I have mistakenly put the accreditation of 'Unknown', and you are aware of the original creator, please send me a personal message at my Gmail (this is more effective than comments as I am often unable to read all of them): [email protected]

The views and opinions expressed in this video are my personal appraisal and are not the views and opinions of any of these individuals or bodies who have kindly supplied me with footage and images.

If you enjoyed this video, why not leave a like, and consider subscribing for more great content coming soon.

Press the Join button to get access to new videos a week ahead of schedule by becoming a channel member for just £2.99 a month!

Paypal: https://paypal.me/rorymacve?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/rorymacve

Thanks again, everyone, and enjoy! :D

References:
- Key Model World (and their respective sources)
- New York Times (and their respective sources)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)