The Santa Fe Pacific Corporation was formed as the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation on by the merger of
Santa Fe Industries, which owned the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996.
The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...
, with the
Southern Pacific Company, which owned the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
.
Santa Fe Southern Pacific sold its 520,000 acres of northern California timberland to
Sierra Pacific Industries in 1987.
After the
Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...
denied their plan to merge their railroads as the
Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad, the holding company name was shortened, and the Southern Pacific Railroad sold.
The holding company retained all the non-rail interests of both predecessors;
these were mainly real estate and natural resources, but Southern Pacific had also formed the telephone company known as
Sprint, which was sold shortly before the merger. It was initially headquartered in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and later in
Schaumburg, Illinois. Former Southern Pacific executive
Robert Krebs succeeded Santa Fe head John J. Schmidt as
CEO.
Almost immediately after the Southern Pacific was sold, Santa Fe Pacific issued a massive dividend. It was so large that it was considered a
return of capital
Return of capital (ROC) refers to principal payments back to "capital owners" (shareholders, partners, unitholders) that exceed the growth (net income/taxable income) of a business or investment. It should not be confused with Rate of Return (ROR) ...
, and financed by issuing a large amount of debt. A few years after that, they spun off most of the company's natural resources interests as Santa Fe Pacific Corporation. They also spun off all their non-track real estate interests, including railway stations, as
Catellus Development.
In September 1995 what was left of the company merged into
Burlington Northern. The Santa Fe railroad became part of the
Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Robert Krebs was CEO of the merged company, until his retirement.
The Santa Fe Pacific Corporation was not related to the
Santa Fe Pacific Railroad, which operated from 1897 to 1902.
References
{{Authority control
United States railroad holding companies
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Southern Pacific Railroad
Companies based in Chicago
Schaumburg, Illinois
BNSF Railway