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95-891: The Locomotive and Machine Company of Montreal Limited was created in 1883, producing primarily for the growing domestic market—notably the Canadian Pacific Railway , the Grand Trunk Railway , the Intercolonial Railway and, after 1922, the Canadian National Railway . In 1901, the American Locomotive Company (Alco) headquartered in Schenectady, New York , was formed by the merger of several struggling locomotive manufacturers. Alco purchased

190-535: A "TurboTrain" passenger service between Toronto and Montreal . The gas-turbine-powered locomotives had been built by Montreal Locomotive Works. 45°34′9.45″N 73°31′51.83″W  /  45.5692917°N 73.5310639°W  / 45.5692917; -73.5310639 Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway ( French : Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique ) ( reporting marks CP , CPAA , MILW , SOO ), also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996),

285-788: A 999-year lease on the O&;Q on January 4, 1884. In 1895, it acquired a minority interest in the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway , giving it a link to New York and the Northeast United States. The last spike in the CPR was driven on November 7, 1885, by one of its directors, Donald Smith. The first transcontinental passenger train departed from Montreal 's Dalhousie Station , at Berri Street and Notre Dame Street, at 8 pm on June 28, 1886, and arrived at Port Moody at noon on July 4. This train consisted of two baggage cars,

380-867: A London-based hedge fund that owns 6% of the company. The creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway was undertaken as the National Dream by the Conservative government of John A. Macdonald , together with mining magnate Alexander Tilloch Galt . As a condition for joining the Canadian Confederation , British Columbia had insisted on a transport link to the East, with the rest of the Confederation. In 1873, Macdonald, among other high-ranking politicians, bribed in

475-533: A North American industry standard. Although earlier wide-nosed cab designs on models such as the EMD FP45 and DDA40X bear a superficial resemblance, they lack the advances in collision protection and accommodations of the "safety cab" design. In 1975, the emerging Quebec based Bombardier purchased a 59% stake in MLW from Studebaker-Worthington. Under Bombardier, the MLW organization continued locomotive design into

570-489: A commitment extended to British Columbia when it entered Confederation in 1871; the CPR was Canada's first transcontinental railway . Primarily a freight railway, the CPR was for decades the only practical means of long-distance passenger transport in most regions of Canada and was instrumental in the colonization and development of Western Canada. The CPR became one of the largest and most powerful companies in Canada,

665-523: A corporate reorganization, each of the major operations, including its rail operations, were organized as separate subsidiaries. The name of the railway was changed to CP Rail, and the parent company changed its name to Canadian Pacific Limited in 1971. Its air, express, telecommunications, hotel and real estate holdings were spun off, and ownership of all of the companies transferred to Canadian Pacific Investments. The slogan was: "TO THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE WORLD". The company discarded its beaver logo, adopting

760-462: A day, paid in rice mats, and not including expenses, leaving barely anything to send home. They did the most dangerous construction jobs, such as working with explosives to clear tunnels through rock. The exact number of Chinese workers who died is unknown, but historians estimate the number is between 600 and 800. By 1883, railway construction was progressing rapidly, but the CPR was in danger of running out of funds. In response, on January 31, 1884,

855-418: A disadvantageous price by GE. Placed in a similar situation when Westinghouse left the railway rotating equipment market in 1953, Fairbanks-Morse developed its own line of such equipment, although this did not save F-M's railway business. GMD's transmissions were built to parent GM-EMD's designs, which were closely based on earlier GE equipment (prior to 1937). Alco found itself in financial difficulty in 1964 and

950-476: A fleet of over a thousand Colonist cars , low-budget sleeper cars designed to transport immigrant families from eastern Canadian seaports to the west. During the first decade of the 20th century, the CPR continued to build more lines. In 1908, the CPR opened a line connecting Toronto with Sudbury . Several operational improvements were also made to the railway in Western Canada. On November 3, 1909,

1045-501: A mail car, one second-class coach, two immigrant sleepers, two first-class coaches, two sleeping cars and a diner (several dining cars were used throughout the journey, as they were removed from the train during the night, with another one added the next morning). By that time, however, the CPR had decided to move its western terminus from Port Moody to Granville , which was renamed "Vancouver" later that year. The first official train destined for Vancouver arrived on May 23, 1887, although

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1140-453: A million troops and passengers and four million tons of cargo. Twenty seven survived and returned to CPR. CPR also helped the war effort with money and jobs. CPR made loans and guarantees to the Allies of some $ 100 million. As a lasting tribute, CPR commissioned three statues and 23 memorial tablets to commemorate the efforts of those who fought and those who died in the war. After the war,

1235-635: A more aggressive construction policy; bonds were floated in London and called for tenders to complete sections of the railway in British Columbia. American contractor Andrew Onderdonk was selected, and his men began construction on May 15, 1880. In October 1880, a new consortium signed a contract with the Macdonald government, agreeing to build the railway for $ 25 million in credit and 25 million acres (100,000 km ) of land. In addition,

1330-655: A new parts store. Some of the pile of rubble from the former MLW plant can still be seen on the vacant lot east of the corner of Dickson Street and Souligny Avenue. Bombardier eventually returned to the locomotive manufacturing business, albeit using largely European or European-influenced passenger locomotive designs that retain none of the Alco/MLW heritage. Bombardier's North American rail manufacturing facilities are in La Pocatière, Quebec; Plattsburgh, New York; and Thunder Bay, Ontario. In 2021, Bombardier Transportation

1425-788: A position it held as late as 1975. The company acquired two American lines in 2009: the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DM&E) and the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad (IC&E). Also, the company owns the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad , a Hammond, Indiana -based terminal railroad along with Conrail Shared Assets Operations . CPR purchased the Kansas City Southern Railway in December 2021 for US$ 31 billion . On April 14, 2023, KCS became

1520-789: A series of different owners since being spun off of the Canadian Pacific in 1995. The first operator was the Canadian American Railroad a division of Iron Road Railways . In 2002 the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic took over operations after CDAC declared bankruptcy. The Central, Maine and Quebec Railway started operations in 2014 after the MMA declared bankruptcy due to the Lac-Mégantic derailment. On this new acquisition, CP CEO Keith Creel remarked that this gives CP

1615-933: A significant port on the Atlantic Ocean. The CPR acquired the Quebec Central Railway on December 14, 1912. During the late 19th century, the railway undertook an ambitious program of hotel construction, building Glacier House in Glacier National Park , Mount Stephen House at Field, British Columbia , the Château Frontenac in Quebec City and the Banff Springs Hotel . By then, the CPR had competition from three other transcontinental lines, all of them money-losers. In 1919, these lines were consolidated into

1710-535: A true coast-to-coast network across Canada and an increased presence in New England. On June 4, 2020; Canadian Pacific bought the Central Maine and Quebec. On March 21, 2021, CP announced that it was planning to purchase the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) for US$ 29 billion. The US Surface Transportation Board (STB) would first have to approve the purchase, which was expected to be completed by

1805-624: A wholly owned subsidiary of CPR, and both CPR and its subsidiaries began doing business under the name of its parent company, CPKC . The CPR is publicly traded on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CP. Its U.S. headquarters are in Minneapolis . As of March 30, 2023, the largest shareholder of Canadian Pacific stock exchange is TCI Fund Management Limited ,

1900-560: A wholly owned subsidiary. In 1968, several divisions of Alco became semi-independent subsidiaries, and in a 1969 corporate reorganization, Studebaker Worthington closed the Schenectady locomotive manufacturing facility. The locomotive designs were transferred in 1969 to MLW-Worthington and the diesel engine designs were sold in 1970 to White Motor Corporation. The Alco diesel engine designs went through several changes in ownership as White Motor Corporation formed White Industrial Power, which

1995-655: The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1989, which liberalized trade between the two nations, the CPR's expansion continued during the early 1990s: CP Rail gained full control of the Soo Line in 1990, adding the "System" to the former's name, and bought the Delaware and Hudson Railway in 1991. These two acquisitions gave CP Rail routes to the major American cities of Chicago (via the Soo Line and Milwaukee Road as part of its historically logical route) and New York City (via

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2090-578: The Commonwealth /Allied war effort (largely by a female workforce), including the Ram tank and the Sexton self-propelled gun . Following World War II, MLW and other locomotive builders reverted to building locomotives. MLW continued to benefit from Canada's restrictive trade policies that prevented a flood of U.S. imports. However, the transition from steam to diesel-electric locomotive production opened

2185-597: The Delaware and Hudson Railway in the northeastern United States. However, the new subsidiary, threatened with being sold off and free to innovate, quickly spun off money-losing track to short lines, instituted scheduled freight service, and produced an unexpected turn-around in profitability. On 1 January 2001 the StL&;H was formally amalgamated with the CP Rail system. In 2001, the CPR's parent company, Canadian Pacific Limited , spun off its five subsidiaries, including

2280-470: The Grand Trunk and Canadian Northern , were nationalized in the years 1918–1922. Merged with the federally owned Intercolonial , they formed the federal Crown corporation Canadian National Railways . The federal government mandated that the new, larger public company purchase locomotives from all Canadian manufacturers to discourage domination of the market by any one manufacturer. Between 1918 and

2375-514: The Kettle Valley Railway in British Columbia, was built in response to the booming mining and smelting economy in southern British Columbia, and the tendency of the local geography to encourage and enable easier access from neighbouring US states than from Vancouver or the rest of Canada, which was viewed to be as much of a threat to national security as it was to the province's control of its own resources. The local passenger service

2470-677: The Lethbridge Viaduct over the Oldman River valley at Lethbridge , Alberta, was opened. It is 1,624 metres (5,328 feet) long and, at its maximum, 96 metres (315 feet) high, making it one of the longest railway bridges in Canada. In 1916, the CPR replaced its line through Rogers Pass , which was prone to avalanches (the most serious of which killed 62 men in 1910) with the Connaught Tunnel , an eight-kilometre-long (5-mile) tunnel under Mount Macdonald that was, at

2565-670: The New Brunswick Railway in 1891 for 991 years, and built the International Railway of Maine , connecting Montreal with Saint John, New Brunswick , in 1889. The connection with Saint John on the Atlantic coast made the CPR the first truly transcontinental railway company in Canada and permitted trans-Atlantic cargo and passenger services to continue year-round when sea ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence closed

2660-864: The Pacific Scandal , granted contracts to the Canada Pacific Railway Company, which was unrelated to the current company, as opposed to the Inter-Ocean Railway Company, which was thought to have connections to the Northern Pacific Railway Company in the United States. After this scandal, the Conservatives were removed from power, and Alexander Mackenzie , the new Liberal prime minister, ordered construction of

2755-619: The Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa & Occidental Railway from the Quebec government and by creating a new railway company, the Ontario and Quebec Railway (O&Q). It also launched a fleet of Great Lakes ships to link its terminals. Through the O&Q, the CPR had effected purchases and long-term leases of several railways, and built a line between Perth, Ontario , and Toronto (completed on May 5, 1884) to connect these acquisitions. The CPR obtained

2850-571: The last spike was driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia . Four days earlier, the last spike of the Lake Superior section was driven in just west of Jackfish, Ontario . While the railway was completed four years after the original 1881 deadline, it was completed more than five years ahead of the new date of 1891 that Macdonald gave in 1881. In Eastern Canada, the CPR had created a network of lines reaching from Quebec City to St. Thomas, Ontario , by 1885 – mainly by buying

2945-603: The " Crow Rate " was permanently replaced by the Western Grain Transportation Act , which allowed the gradual increase of grain shipping prices. The Crowsnest Pass line opened on June 18, 1898, and followed a complicated route through the maze of valleys and passes in southern British Columbia, rejoining the original mainline at Hope after crossing the Cascade Mountains via Coquihalla Pass . The Southern Mainline, generally known as

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3040-1152: The 1950s, a time when many United States railroads were dieselizing. (Nevertheless, as in Canada, some Class 1 American railroads continued to use modern steam power through 1959, including the Norfolk & Western Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad .) With some isolated exceptions, and as in the United States, Canadian railways were completely dieselized by 1960. Throughout the 1960s, Canadian National Railway (MLW's largest diesel-electric locomotive customer) continued to implement purchase policies drafted by its government owners, which spread procurement among all manufacturers. MLW / Alco-GE road switcher designs were also preferred by several railways in North America due to superior rail adhesion at low speeds, making them especially useful on steeply graded rail lines. Like GMD in London, MLW benefited from Canadian trade policies that were less restrictive than those of

3135-486: The 1950s, the railway introduced new innovations in passenger service. In 1955, it introduced The Canadian , a new luxury transcontinental train. However, in the 1960s, the company started to pull out of passenger services, ending services on many of its branch lines. It also discontinued its secondary transcontinental train The Dominion in 1966, and in 1970, unsuccessfully applied to discontinue The Canadian . For

3230-582: The 1970s and 1980s at plants in Thunder Bay, Ontario and Trenton, Nova Scotia. Today the Thunder Bay plant is owned by Bombardier Transportation . The Trenton plant was sold in 1988 to Lavalin Industries and renamed TrentonWorks . The Greenbrier Companies acquired the plant in 1995 but during a serious contraction within the railcar sector in the mid 2000s closed the plant. The Thunder Bay plant primarily built passenger rail and transit equipment, while

3325-436: The 1986 acquisition of the federal government Crown corporation Canadair ), in addition to its recreational products. The dormant MLW plant was sold to General Electric in 1988 and ironically was used by GE during a late 1980s programme of rebuilding some of its earlier "Universal series" road switchers - the locomotives that had initially driven ALCO out of the locomotive business in the United States in 1969. GE closed

3420-421: The CPR, into independent companies. In September 2007, CPR announced it was acquiring the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad from London-based Electra Private Equity . The merger was completed as of October 31, 2008. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. trains resumed regular operations on June 1, 2012, after a nine-day strike by some 4,800 locomotive engineers, conductors and traffic controllers who walked off

3515-485: The CPR, to action. During this time the railway land grants were formalized. The Great Depression , which lasted from 1929 until 1939, hit many companies heavily. While the CPR was affected, it was not affected to the extent of its rival CNR because it, unlike the CNR, was debt-free. The CPR scaled back on some of its passenger and freight services and stopped issuing dividends to its shareholders after 1932. Hard times led to

3610-522: The Canadian division of British Hawker Siddeley Group , the company assumed the assets of the A.V. Roe Canada Company Ltd. Hawker Siddeley Canada focused on manufacturing heavy rail cars (hopper and tank cars) and transit vehicles (subway cars, intercity railcars and streetcars). Major clients included: Hawker Siddeley Canada headquarters was in Mississauga , Ontario . Its formation in 1962 saw

3705-544: The Canadian government to build the railway, the CPR was granted 100,000 square kilometres (25 million acres). Canadian Pacific then began an intense campaign to bring immigrants to Canada; its agents operated in many overseas locations, where immigrants were often sold a package that included passage on a CP ship, travel on a CP train and land sold by the CP railway. Land was priced at $ 2.50 an acre and up but required cultivation. To transport immigrants, Canadian Pacific developed

3800-765: The D&;H). During the 1990s, both CP Rail and CN attempted unsuccessfully to buy out the eastern assets of the other, so as to permit further rationalization. In 1996, CP Rail moved its head office from Windsor Station in Montreal to Gulf Canada Square in Calgary and changed its name back to Canadian Pacific Railway. A new subsidiary company, the St. Lawrence and Hudson Railway , was created to operate its money-losing lines in eastern North America, covering Quebec , Southern and Eastern Ontario , trackage rights to Chicago, Illinois , (on Norfolk Southern lines from Detroit ) as well as

3895-625: The Department of Railways and Canals and turned over to the company in May 1883. By the end of 1883, the railway had reached the Rocky Mountains, just 8 km (5.0 mi) east of Kicking Horse Pass. The treacherous 190 km (120 mi) of railway west of Fort William was completed by Purcell & Company, headed by "Canada's wealthiest and greatest railroad contractor," industrialist Hugh Ryan . Many thousands of navvies worked on

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3990-475: The Federal government created Canadian National Railways (CNR, later CN) out of several bankrupt railways that fell into government hands during and after the war. CNR would become the main competitor to the CPR in Canada. In 1923, Henry Worth Thornton replaced David Blyth Hanna becoming the second president of the CNR, and his competition spurred Edward Wentworth Beatty , the first Canadian-born president of

4085-755: The Kicking Horse River just after the Trans Canada Highway overpass. The three crew members on the lead locomotive were killed. The Canadian Pacific Police Service (CPPS) investigated the fatal derailment. It later came to light that, although Creel said that the RCMP "retain jurisdiction" over the investigation, the RCMP wrote that "it never had jurisdiction because the crash happened on CP property". On January 26, 2020, Canadian current affairs program The Fifth Estate broadcast an episode on

4180-707: The Locomotive & Machine Company of Montreal in 1904 to tap into the Canadian market with its emerging designs. The Montreal subsidiary was renamed Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) several years later. MLW became an exclusive Alco design shop and acquired a substantial portion of the Canadian steam locomotive market. The period of railway expansion between 1900 and 1915 was unprecedented in Canada, with many new orders for locomotives from various domestic manufacturers. Protective customs tariffs also discouraged Canadian railways from purchasing American-built locomotives for use in Canada. Several bankrupt private systems, including

4275-479: The M640 4000 hp 18-cylinder prototype for Canadian Pacific in 1972. However, by this time CP had settled on the EMD 645 series SD40 and SD40-2 as their standard locomotive, and there were no further orders forthcoming from that company. Throughout the early 1970s MLW-Worthington continued to build second-generation designs for Canadian railways. The Canadian Locomotive Company (renamed as Fairbanks-Morse, Canada) had closed in 1969, leaving MLW-Worthington as

4370-418: The MLW manufacturing plant in 1993. The GE half of the plant was destroyed by fire in 2001; the other portion of the plant remained in use by the National Research Council of Canada . In 2004, the remainder of the enormous complex was demolished. The nearby GE-Camco-Westinghouse plant, which is the only Canadian manufacturer of home appliances, bought half of the property to build its new shipping warehouse and

4465-411: The Quebec government added the CPR, along with lessor World Fuel Services (WFS), to the list of corporate entities from which it seeks reimbursement for the environmental cleanup of the Lac-Mégantic derailment. On July 15, the press reported that CP would appeal the legal order. On October 12, 2014, it was reported that Canadian Pacific had tried to enter into a merger with American railway CSX , but

4560-508: The Toronto Transit Commission opted for Hawker Siddeley Canada vehicles from the mid-1960s onwards to the 1980s. In 1949, MLW began to introduce its first Alco-GE -derived diesel designs in response to GMD, mostly switchers, some of which were given different names and slight modifications to distinguish between MLW and ALCO-GE versions. In 1951, MLW began to build Alco-GE cab units for freight and passenger service. Canadian railways continued to rely heavily upon steam locomotives throughout

4655-494: The United States in regard to dealing with countries throughout the decolonizing and developing world, permitting MLW to expand a growing export business. MLW's parent, Alco, experienced several years of declining business during the 1960s following the entry of former-partner General Electric into the road switcher locomotive manufacturing business in the United States. This was due, in part, to continuing reliance on GE's high quality electrical components, sold to Alco and MLW at

4750-419: The United States, stretching from Montreal to Vancouver , and as far north as Edmonton . Its rail network also served Minneapolis–St. Paul , Milwaukee , Detroit , Chicago , and Albany, New York , in the United States. The railway was first built between eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1875 and 1885 (connecting with Ottawa Valley and Georgian Bay area lines built earlier), fulfilling

4845-490: The company acquire control of several A.V. Roe Canada subsidiaries including the Canadian Car and Foundry (CC&F) as well as the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO) conglomerate, which included various steel mills, coal mines, manufacturing plants, and Halifax Shipyards . Consequently, Hawker Siddeley had two primary railcar manufacturing plants: Hawker Siddeley forced its DOSCO subsidiary to close money-losing coal mines and steel mills, subsequently expropriated by

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4940-406: The company could not use a voting trust to assume control of KCS, due to concerns about potentially reduced competition in the railroad industry. Hawker Siddeley Canada Hawker Siddeley Canada was the Canadian unit of the Hawker Siddeley Group of the United Kingdom and manufactured railcars, subway cars, streetcars, aircraft engines and ships from the 1960s to 1980s. Founded in 1962 as

5035-418: The controlling interests of the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway (TH&B) from Conrail and molded it into the Canadian Pacific System, dissolving the TH&B's name from the books in 1985. In 1987, most of CPR's trackage in the Great Lakes region, including much of the original Soo Line, were spun off into a new railway, the Wisconsin Central , which was subsequently purchased by CN . Influenced by

5130-550: The country. Additionally, 22 of the CPR's ships went to war, 12 of which were sunk. After the Second World War, the transportation industry in Canada changed. Where railways had previously provided almost universal freight and passenger services, cars, trucks and airplanes started to take traffic away from railways. This naturally helped the CPR's air and trucking operations, and the railway's freight operations continued to thrive hauling resource traffic and bulk commodities. However, passenger trains quickly became unprofitable. During

5225-453: The country. The CPR and the CNR shared the honours of pulling the royal train across the country, with the CPR undertaking the westbound journey from Quebec City to Vancouver. Later that year, the Second World War began. As it had done in World War I, the CPR devoted much of its resources to the war effort. It retooled its Angus Shops in Montreal to produce Valentine tanks and other armoured vehicles, and transported troops and resources across

5320-412: The creation of new political parties such as the Social Credit movement and the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation , as well as popular protest in the form of the On-to-Ottawa Trek . One highlight of the late 1930s, both for the railway and for Canada, was the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their 1939 royal tour of Canada , the first time that the reigning monarch had visited

5415-462: The derailment, and the next day the Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB) called for the RCMP to investigate as lead investigator Don Crawford said, "There is enough to suspect there's negligence here and it needs to be investigated by the proper authority". On February 4, 2020, the TSB demoted its lead investigator in the crash probe after his superiors decided these comments were "completely inappropriate". The TSB stated that it "does not share

5510-447: The derailment. Part of the compromise was to accept GO Transit commuter rail service along the Galt Subdivision corridor up to Milton, Ontario . Limited trains ran along the Milton line on weekdays only. Expansions to Cambridge, Ontario may be coming in the future. In 1984, CP Rail commenced construction of the Mount Macdonald Tunnel to augment the Connaught Tunnel under the Selkirk Mountains . The first revenue train passed through

5605-439: The door to new competitors. In 1949, the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors established a Canadian subsidiary named General Motors Diesel Division (GMDD) in London, Ontario . MLW's long-established steam-locomotive competitor, the Canadian Locomotive Company (CLC), had entered into a partnership with Baldwin Locomotive Works and imported and produced the designs of Baldwin and its subsidiary Whitcomb . Westinghouse

5700-428: The early 1980s, and also benefited from its geographic location. During the 1970s, Bombardier began to enter the railway passenger car business with domestic orders for commuter and subway systems. Based on a prototype trainset constructed in the mid-1970s, in 1980 MLW began production of a fleet of high-speed diesel-powered passenger locomotives for the LRC (Light, Rapid, Comfortable) passenger trains being built for

5795-458: The federal and Nova Scotia governments (see: Cape Breton Development Corporation and Sydney Steel Corporation ). Likewise, CC&F was forced to shed various assets. Halifax Shipyards was sold to Irving Shipbuilding Inc., a subsidiary of J.D. Irving Limited , in the 1990s. Hawker Siddeley Canada's operations were then acquired by Kingston -based UTDC (later sold to Bombardier Transportation of Montreal , Quebec ). SNC-Lavalin purchased

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5890-411: The first spike was driven into a sunken railway tie. That was the point where the Canada Central Railway (CCR) extension ended. The CCR started in Brockville and extended to Pembroke. It then followed a westward route along the Ottawa River and continued to Mattawa at the confluence of the Mattawa and Ottawa rivers. It then proceeded to Bonfield. It was presumed that the railway would travel through

5985-463: The government defrayed surveying costs and exempted the railway from property taxes for 20 years. A beaver was chosen as the railway's logo in honour of Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal , who had risen from factor to governor of the Hudson's Bay Company over a lengthy career in the beaver fur trade. Building the railway took over four years. The Canadian Pacific Railway began its westward expansion from Bonfield, Ontario , where

6080-477: The government passed the Railway Relief Bill, providing a further $ 22.5 million in loans to the CPR. The bill received royal assent on March 6, 1884. In March 1885, the North-West Rebellion broke out in the District of Saskatchewan . Van Horne, in Ottawa at the time, suggested to the government that the CPR could transport troops to Qu'Appelle in the District of Assiniboia in 10 days. Some sections of track were incomplete or had not been used before, but

6175-519: The government-owned Canadian National Railways . During the First World War, CPR put the entire resources of the "world's greatest travel system" at the disposal of the British Empire , not only trains and tracks, but also its ships, shops, hotels, telegraphs and, above all, its people. Aiding the war effort meant transporting and billeting troops; building and supplying arms and munitions; arming, lending and selling ships. Fifty-two CPR ships were pressed into service during World War I, carrying more than

6270-429: The job on May 23, stalling Canadian freight traffic and costing the economy an estimated CA$ 80 million ( US$ 77 million ). The strike ended with a government back-to-work bill forcing both sides to come to a binding agreement . On July 6, 2013, a unit train of crude oil which CP had subcontracted to short-line operator Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway derailed in Lac-Mégantic , killing 47. On August 14, 2013,

6365-500: The late 1950s, a move it took after dissolving its partnership with Alco in 1953. In 1960, MLW was awarded the contract to build 36 new subway cars for the Toronto Transit Commission . The M1 Series Subway Cars were notable for being the first ever rapid transit vehicles to be designed and built in Canada. They were also an improvement over the previous rolling stock, being lighter and faster, despite also being considerably larger. MLW's venture into rapid transit would be short-lived, as

6460-516: The late 1960s and early 1970s, although only a token combined order of 30 units were built. These locomotives were considered a failure as they lasted only as long as the units they were designed to replace (mid-1990s) and were considered to be mechanically and electrically unreliable, a common complaint with several ALCO/MLW designs. In a 1985 corporate reorganization, Bombardier ceased manufacturing locomotives and concentrated on producing passenger train rolling stock (as well as aircraft following

6555-493: The left bank of the Kaministiquia River in the District of Thunder Bay, about four miles upriver from Fort William. Once completed in 1882 with a last spike at Feist Lake, near Vermilion Bay, Ontario , the line was turned over to the newly-minted private Canadian Pacific Railway company. In 1883, the first wheat shipment from Manitoba was transported over this line to the Lakehead (Fort William and Port Arthur) on Lake Superior. Macdonald would later return as prime minister and adopt

6650-489: The line had already been in use for three months. The CPR quickly became profitable, and all loans from the federal government were repaid years ahead of time. In 1888, a branch line was opened between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie where the CPR connected with the American railway system and its own steamships. That same year, work was started on a line from London, Ontario , to the Canada–US border at Windsor, Ontario . That line opened on June 12, 1890. The CPR also leased

6745-403: The middle of 2022. However, a competing cash and stock offer was later made by Canadian National Railway (CN) on April 20 at $ 33.7 billion. On 13 May, KCS announced that they planned to accept the merger offer from CN, but would give CP until May 21 to come up with a higher bid. On May 21, KCS and CN agreed to a merger. However, CN's merger attempt was blocked by a STB ruling in August that

6840-433: The new Multimark (which, when mirrored by an adjacent "multi-mark" creates a diamond appearance on a globe) that was used – with a different colour background – for each of its operations. On November 10, 1979, a derailment of a hazardous materials train in Mississauga, Ontario , led to the evacuation of 200,000 people; there were no fatalities. Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion threatened to sue Canadian Pacific for

6935-418: The newly created federal Crown corporation Via Rail . Similar equipment was also used briefly by Amtrak .The last of the locomotives were retired from service in 2001, although the coaches continue to form the backbone of Via's intercity corridor fleet. By now fully merged into Bombardier, the MLW plant and design bureau also received a spurt of contracts from government-owned Canadian National Railway for

7030-525: The newly designed HR (High Reliability) line of freight locomotives that incorporated the Canadian safety cab or a full-width carbody; namely the 4-axle HR-412 (similar to the M-420) and the full-width carbody 6-axle HR-616. The HR-616 incorporated another unique design with the "Draper Taper", named for the designer at CN, allowing for rear visibility from the cab. These locomotive designs were intended to replace aging MLW and GMD units CN had purchased during

7125-460: The next eight years, it continued to apply to discontinue the service, and service on The Canadian declined markedly. On October 29, 1978, CP Rail transferred its passenger services to Via Rail , a new federal Crown corporation that is responsible for managing all intercity passenger service formerly handled by both CP Rail and CN. Via eventually took almost all of its passenger trains, including The Canadian , off CP's lines. In 1968, as part of

7220-636: The period after the Second World War , Canadian National modernized its steam locomotive fleet by replacing many of the units it had received from its constituent railways. MLW was a major beneficiary of these purchases, along with the Canadian Locomotive Company of Kingston, Ontario . MLW grew substantially during the Second World War when its plant facilities were converted primarily to fabricating matériel for

7315-512: The port of Montreal during the winter months. By 1896, competition with the Great Northern Railway for traffic in southern British Columbia forced the CPR to construct a second line across the province, south of the original line. Van Horne, now president of the CPR, asked for government aid, and the government agreed to provide around $ 3.6 million to construct a railway from Lethbridge, Alberta , through Crowsnest Pass to

7410-669: The primary competitor to the rapidly expanding GMD. During this time, at the behest of Canadian National, MLW-Worthington developed the wide-nosed "safety cab", which provided improved crew accommodation and collision protection. First appearing on the M-420 and concurrently on the EMD GP38-2 , the safety cab became common on Canadian National and the British Columbia Railway . Canadian Pacific, however, never purchased any such units from MLW. This form of cab design became

7505-801: The railcar business but mothballed the TrentonWorks plant, which was later acquired by the Government of Nova Scotia and sold to Greenbrier . SNC-Lavalin sold the Thunder Bay plant to Bombardier Transportation and the Hawker Siddeley Canada name was ultimately dissolved in 2001. A partial list of products made by Hawker Siddeley Canada: Hawker-Siddeley Canada also manufactured aircraft engines for Avro Canada 's Orenda Engines and other aircraft manufacturers: Hawker-Siddeley Transportation also produced railway freight cars primarily for Canadian railways and leasing companies during

7600-633: The railway under the supervision of the Department of Public Works. Enabled by the CPR Act of 1874, work began in 1875 on the Lake Superior to Manitoba section of the CPR. The ceremonial sod-turning at Westfort on June 1, 1875, was prominently reported in the June 10 edition of the Toronto Globe . It noted that a crowd of "upwards of 500 ladies and gentlemen" gathered to celebrate the event on

7695-544: The railway. Many were European immigrants. An unknown number of Stoney Nakoda also assisted in track laying and construction work in the Kicking Horse Pass region. In British Columbia, government contractors eventually hired 17,000 workers from China, known as " coolies ". After 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 months of hard labour, they could net as little as $ 16 ($ 485 in 2023 adjusted for inflation) Chinese labourers in British Columbia made only between 75 cents and $ 1.25

7790-418: The renowned railway executive William Cornelius Van Horne to oversee construction. Van Horne stated that he would have 800 km (500 mi) of main line built in 1882. Floods delayed the start of the construction season, but over 672 km (418 mi) of main line, as well as sidings and branch lines, were built that year. The Thunder Bay branch (west from Fort William ) was completed in June 1882 by

7885-814: The rich "fertile belt" of the North Saskatchewan River Valley and cross the Rocky Mountains via the Yellowhead Pass . However, a more southerly route across the arid Palliser's Triangle in Saskatchewan and via Kicking Horse Pass and down the Field Hill to the Rocky Mountain Trench was chosen. In 1881, construction progressed at a pace too slow for the railway's officials who, in 1882, hired

7980-476: The south shore of Kootenay Lake , in exchange for the CPR agreeing to reduce freight rates in perpetuity for key commodities shipped in Western Canada. The controversial Crowsnest Pass Agreement effectively locked the eastbound rate on grain products and westbound rates on certain "settlers' effects" at the 1897 level. Although temporarily suspended during the First World War , it was not until 1983 that

8075-623: The time of its opening, the longest railway tunnel in the Western Hemisphere . On January 21, 1910, a passenger train derailed on the CPR line at the Spanish River bridge at Nairn, Ontario (near Sudbury ), killing at least 43. On January 3, 1912, the CPR acquired the Dominion Atlantic Railway , a railway that ran in western Nova Scotia . This acquisition gave the CPR a connection to Halifax ,

8170-458: The trip to Winnipeg was made in nine days and the rebellion quickly suppressed. Controversially, the government subsequently reorganized the CPR's debt and provided a further $ 5 million loan. This money was desperately needed by the CPR. Even with Van Horne's support with moving troops to Qu'Appelle, the government still delayed in giving its support to CPR, due to Macdonald pressuring George Stephen for additional benefits. On November 7, 1885,

8265-604: The tunnel in 1988. At 14.7 km (nine miles), it is the longest tunnel in the Americas. During the 1980s, the Soo Line Railroad , in which CP Rail still owned a controlling interest, underwent several changes. It acquired the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway in 1982. Then on February 21, 1985, the Soo Line obtained a controlling interest in the bankrupt Milwaukee Road , merging it into its system on January 1, 1986. Also in 1980, Canadian Pacific bought out

8360-705: The view of the lead safety investigator". The CPPS say they did a thorough investigation into the actions of the crew, which is now closed and resulted in no charges, while the Alberta Federation of Labour and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference called for an independent police probe. On November 20, 2019, it was announced that Canadian Pacific would purchase the Central Maine and Quebec Railway from Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors . The line has had

8455-483: Was a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited , known until 2023 as Canadian Pacific Railway Limited , which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001. The railway is headquartered in Calgary , Alberta. In 2023, the railway owned approximately 20,100 kilometres (12,500 mi) of track in seven provinces of Canada and into

8550-478: Was purchased by Worthington Corporation , a major manufacturer of equipment for the pulp and paper industry and a former builder of steam locomotive accessories. At that time MLW was renamed MLW-Worthington and continued much as before. In 1967, Worthington Corporation merged with the Studebaker Corporation, recently exited from the auto business, to form Studebaker-Worthington , with ALCO as

8645-576: Was re-routed to this new southerly line, which connected numerous emergent small cities across the region. Independent railways and subsidiaries that were eventually merged into the CPR in connection with this route were the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway , the Kaslo and Slocan Railway , the Columbia and Kootenay Railway , the Columbia and Western Railway and various others. Under the initial contract with

8740-437: Was sold to Alstom , who continue to manufacture their products. MLW built several of Canada's most famous locomotives. Most notably, Canadian Pacific 2800 series 4-6-4 Hudson class of locomotives. The 2800s became famous after CPR 2850 pulled the royal train across Canada. Since then, later 2800s (numbered 2820–2864) are known as Royal Hudsons , with royal permission granted from the king. From 1968 to 1982 Via Rail operated

8835-601: Was subsequently purchased by the British General Electric Company in 1977. Renamed Alco Power Incorporated by GEC, the designs were, ironically, sold to Fairbanks-Morse in 1994. In this period, MLW-Worthington partnered with Pratt & Whitney Canada to construct the Turbo Train fleet for Canadian National. It also continued engineering development of the ALCO 251 series engine, producing

8930-460: Was the main supplier of Baldwin's electrical transmission components. After Baldwin folded, CLC became a licensee of Fairbanks-Morse and manufactured a number of F-M designs for the Canadian market, including the famous Train Master . CLC was also responsible for building General Electric industrial switchers. General Electric did not enter the road diesel-electric market in the United States until

9025-565: Was unsuccessful. In 2015–16 Canadian Pacific sought to merge with American railway Norfolk Southern . and wanted to have a shareholder vote on it. CP ultimately terminated its efforts to merge on April 11, 2016. On February 4, 2019, a loaded grain train ran away from the siding at Partridge just above the Upper Spiral Tunnel in Kicking Horse Pass . The 112-car grain train with three locomotives derailed into

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