Grand Trunk Western Railroad - Grand Trunk Corporation

Grand Trunk Corporation

After several years of Canadian National subsidizing the financial losses of Grand Trunk Western a new holding company would be established by CN in 1971 to manage GTW. The Grand Trunk Corporation was created to shift full control of GTW operations to Detroit and begin a strategy to make the railroad profitable. CN’s other American properties, the Central Vermont Railway and the Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway (DW&P) would also be placed under the new corporation initially for tax purposes.

With the new corporation came a new autonomy for GTW from its parent CN. Grand Trunk Western had always shared equipment, color schemes and corporate logos with Canadian National. It shared CN's herald styles with its own name on the previous "tilted herald" and "Maple Leaf" logos. In 1960 when CN launched its new image GTW had its own initials incorporated into the "wet noodle" logo and followed with CN’s black red/orange and gray locomotive color scheme. However, to show its new autonomy from CN in 1971 GTW began receiving its new locomotives in its famous bright blue, red/orange and white scheme. Most of GTW’s freight cars also received the blue and white color scheme. With new management the railroad implemented a new strategy to market shippers and improve its performance. In 1975 the railroad adopted its company slogan: The Good Track Road. This slogan promoted GTW's track maintenance efforts, at a time when many Eastern and Midwest railroads suffered from deferred maintenance. The company also encouraged better safety practices which earned it the E.H. Harriman Award for safety five times in the 1980s.