Beyond mail and emigrating passengers, the Allan Line carried royalty (converting one of its ships with no expense nor detail to attention spared), troops (in the Crimean and Zulu wars), general cargo, manufactured goods and much needed Canadian wheat to Britain. After the Victoria Bridge opened in 1859, Allan became dependent on the Grand Trunk Railway and signed a ten-year deal with them. But he soon became frustrated with the railway when he wanted them to triple their deliveries from the American Midwest, and he felt threatened by the railway's plans to form a steamship line of its own with rival firms in New York and Boston. By 1873, Allan expressed "a desire to protect ourselves".