Windsor and Hantsport Railway

Windsor and Hantsport Railway

WHR gypsum train westbound at Windsor, 22 Aug 2006.
Reporting mark	WHRC
Locale	Nova Scotia, Canada
Dates of operation	1994–2011 hq_city=Windsor, Nova Scotia
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

1994–2011

The Windsor and Hantsport Railway (reporting mark WHRC) is a 56-mile (90.1 km) railway line in Nova Scotia between Windsor Junction (north of Bedford) and New Minas with a spur at Windsor which runs several miles east, serving two gypsum quarries located at Wentworth Creek and Mantua. It suspended operations in 2011.

The mainline (and related spurs) were formerly owned by Canadian Pacific Railway subsidiary Dominion Atlantic Railway from 1894-1994 before being sold to shortline holding company Iron Road Railways. WHRC began operations on Saturday, August 27, 1994, making it Nova Scotia's second shortline railway after Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway, which was formed one year earlier.

The WHRC route between Windsor Junction and New Minas is part of CPR's (and DAR's) former Halifax Subdivision. The section from Windsor to Windsor Junction was built as the Windsor Branch of the Nova Scotia Railway, opening in 1858, and is currently leased by WHRC from owner Canadian National Railway (CN). The WHRC route west of Windsor to Hantsport and ending at New Minas, was built as the Windsor and Annapolis Railway between 1867-1872, which became the Dominion Atlantic Railway in 1894. The section east of Windsor to the gypsum quarries at Wentworth Creek and Mantua was built as the Midland Railway and opened in 1901. This was CPR/DAR's Truro Subdivision until the line east of the gypsum quarry at Mantua to Truro was abandoned in the mid-1980s.