Editing Canadian Pacific Railway (section)

==Express==
W. C. Van Horne decided from the very beginning that the CPR would retain as much revenue from its various operations as it could. This translated into keeping express, telegraph, sleeping car and other lines of business for themselves, creating separate departments or companies as necessary. This was necessary as the fledgling railway would need all the income it could get, and in addition, he saw some of these ancillary operations such as express and telegraph as being quite profitable. Others such as sleeping and dining cars were kept in order to provide better control over the quality of service being provided to passengers. Hotels were likewise crucial to the CPR's growth by attracting travellers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stathis |first=Kelly |title=Canadian Pacific Railway hotels in B.C.: Part 1 {{!}} Digitization Centre |url=https://digitize.library.ubc.ca/digitizers-blog/canadian-pacific-railway-hotels-in-b-c-part-1/ |access-date=2023-05-10 |website=digitize.library.ubc.ca |language=en-US}}</ref>

'''Dominion Express Company''' was formed independently in 1873 before the CPR itself, although train service did not begin until the summer of 1882 at which time it operated over some {{convert|300|mi|km|sigfig=1|order=flip}} of track from Rat Portage (Kenora) Ontario west to Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was soon absorbed into the CPR and expanded everywhere the CPR went. It was renamed '''Canadian Pacific Express Company''' on September 1, 1926, and the headquarters moved from Winnipeg, to Toronto, and the company also handled the establishment of the first money order system in Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Milland |first=Russ |date=2010-04-28 |title=Exploring the Walmsley Collection - Dominion Express Sign |url=https://www.trha.ca/trha/exploring-the-walmsley-collection-dominion-express-sign/ |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=Toronto Railway Historical Association |language=en-US}}</ref> It was operated as a separate company with the railway charging them to haul express cars on trains, and was initially highly profitable.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Connecting Canada |url=https://cpconnectingcanada.ca/#innovation-diversification |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=cpconnectingcanada.ca}}</ref>

Express operations consisted of separate cars included on existing Canadian Pacific routes, were typically charged on a [[less-than-carload]] basis, and transported a wide range of goods, including fresh goods like dairy or flowers, refrigerated goods such as fish, transport of cash and jewellery, livestock with handlers and in some cases goods that took an entire carload, such as automobiles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Old Time Trains |url=http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR/express/history.html |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=www.trainweb.org}}</ref>

The company later expanded to shipping by [[Semi-trailer truck|transport truck]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Old Time Trains |url=http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR/transport/History.htm |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=www.trainweb.org}}</ref> The company eventually became unprofitable, possibly due to competition from trucking companies,<ref name="joc_com">{{Cite web |last=MACDONALD |first=MICHAEL |date=1997-07-09 |title=CANADA DEREGULATION CAUSED TRUCK FIRM'S FAILURE, UNION SAYS {{!}} Journal of Commerce |url=https://joc.com/article/canada-deregulation-caused-truck-firms-failure-union-says_19970708.html |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=joc.com |language=en}}</ref> was purchased by an [[Employee stock ownership|employee buyout]] in 1994 and renamed itself Interlink Systems.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Employees Buy Major Canadian Trucking Company {{!}} NCEO |url=https://www.nceo.org/blog/employees-buy-major-canadian-trucking-company |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=www.nceo.org}}</ref><ref name="joc_com" /> The company failed quickly, and went into receivership in 1997.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Public Services and Procurement Canada |title=Information archivée dans le Web |url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/archivee-archived.html?url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/C89-4-82-1998E.pdf |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=publications.gc.ca}}</ref>