Back in the day, the Southern Pacific was 'known' as the Sufferin Pacific by a number of people.....mainly by Santa Fe employees who had to deal with the S.P. dispatcher while working over the Tehachapi Mountains. In addition, according to them, S P stood for 'Slow and Pokey'. Seemed like railroaders had a comical name for everything. The cabforward locomotives were know as 'back up malleys'.