The Multimark was a

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

introduced by

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

on July 17, 1968, to identify each of its various operations. CP Multimark geometry

The Multimark was created by the international marketing and design firm Lippincott and Margulies. It was composed of a circle representing global activities, a triangle representing motion or direction, and in contrast, a square (sometimes elongated into a rectangle) indicating stability. By the 1990s, the logo was sometimes referred to as the "

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

logo" by railfans for its resemblance to the early video game character.

Industry changes

The Multimark was gradually eliminated in the 1980s as the various components of

Canadian Pacific Limited Canadian Pacific Limited was created in 1971 to own properties formerly owned by Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), a transportation and mining giant in Canada. In October 2001, CPR completed the corporate spin-offs of each of the remaining business ...

changed names. CP Air became Canadian Pacific Airlines and was later sold off. CP Hotels became Canadian Pacific Hotels and Resorts and much later sold off. CP Express & Transport went out of business due to deregulation. CP Telecommunications was merged into CNCP Telecommunications which soon went out of business due to the changing industry. ( Unitel was then created to acquire what remained.) CP Ships became Canadian Pacific Ships and was finally sold off in 2005. CP Rail became known as CP Rail System in January 1991, with the acquisition of the bankrupt American

Delaware and Hudson Railway The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP operates D&H ...

. The marketing name included

Soo Line Railroad The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sa ...

which had become 100% owned. (CPR had long had controlling interest in it). The use of the Multimark on CP Rail slowly faded away with no official announcement. September 1987 saw the first diesel to be repainted without it, a GP7 yard engine numbered 1684.

Legacy

While the two companies, other than owning the same ship ( RMS Empress of Canada, later ''Mardi Gras'') at different points of the ship's life, are completely unrelated, it has been said that Carnival Cruise Line's logo is a derivative of the Multimark, with the Multimark's edges being rounded out, and the colors changed to red, white and blue.

Colours

Each operating division was assigned a different colour while taking on a new identity:

References

:{{smaller, ''Spanner'' July–August 1968 A special edition of the employee magazine dedicated entirely to the corporate changes. Canadian Pacific Railway Commercial logos Symbols introduced in 1968