https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_and_Western_Railroad
the Winchester and Western Railroad (blue "WW" on map) runs from Winchester west to Gore and north to Hagerstown, with trackage rights over the CSX in Winchester to connect its two branches
Source: Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, Virginia State Railroad Map (2012)
The Winchester and Western Railroad today is a shortline with 53 miles of track in the Shenandoah Valley, plus another division in New Jersey. The railroad was chartered in 1917, and the first stretch in Virginia to be constructed connected Gore to Winchester. It hauled timber products (especially railroad ties) to the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad connection at Winchester. The primary customer was a subsidiary of the railroad, the Winchester Lumber Company, and passenger traffic was minimal.
Planning the connection with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was a family matter. The first president of the Winchester and Western Railroad was the brother of the top lawyer at the B&O Railroad.1 "J. G. Fosbrink Elected President, W & W Railroad," Baltimore & Ohio Magazine, October, 1947, p.20, https://books.google.com/books?id=I19CAQAAIAAJ; "About Winchester and Western Railroad Company," OmniTrax, http://omnitrax.com/our-company/our-railroads/winchester-and-western-railroad-company/; "Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States - Valuation reports, Volume 43," Interstate Commerce Commission, 1934, pp.427-428, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Interstate_Commerce_Commission_Reports/gKMFAAAAIAAJ
The Winchester and Western Railroad was extended to Wardensville, West Virginia in 1921, giving it 39 miles of track. Various narrow gauge (three-foot) lines were built further west of Wardensville to collect local timber. The cut-over timberlands produced less material to haul, and in 1934 during the Great Depression the Winchester and Western Railroad abandoned the Capon Springs-Wardensville section. During World War II, the track between Wardensville-Gore was abandoned.1
"Gore, VA to Wardensville, WV," Abandoned Rails, http://www.abandonedrails.com/Gore_to_Wardensville; "Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States - Valuation reports, Volume 43," Interstate Commerce Commission, 1934, pp.434-435, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Interstate_Commerce_Commission_Reports/gKMFAAAAIAAJ (last checked December 28, 2020)
the Winchester and Western Railroad track west of Capon Springs, West Virginia, was abandoned in 1934
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Middletown VA 1:62,500 topographic quadrangle (1923)
It was worth retaining some track in Frederick County because a quarry there was the primary shipper after the timber business declined. Virginia Glass Sand Corp. developed a deposit of high-purity sand in the Ridgeley Sandstone of the Oriskany Group, a geologic formation which is more than 99% pure silica (SiO2). The Shenandoah Silica Company built a mill to process sand at the quarry in 1932. Two years later, during the Great Depression, Virginia Glass Sand Corp. advertised that it was hiring more workers in order to ship 50-75 carloads monthly to glassmakers in West Virginia.1
Rock Products, Volume 37, 1934, p.71, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Rock_Products/ybVBAQAAIAAJ; Palmer C. Sweet, "Virginia's Industrial Silica Resources," Virginia Minerals, February 1986, Volume 32, Number 1 (February 1986), pp.2-3, https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/commercedocs/VAMIN_VOL32_NO01.PDF; "Industrial Sand," Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), p.2, https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/DGMR/industrialsands.shtml; Marion C. Jaster, "Selected Annotated Bibliography of High-Grade Silica of the United States and Canada Through December 1954," US Geological Survey Bulletin 1019-H, 1957, p.662, https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1019h/report.pdf (last checked April 11, 2020)
the Winchester and Western Railroad in 2020
Source: Winchester and Western Railroad Company, View Map
Virginia Glass Sand sold the quarry and railroad in 1972. In 2018 the company that owned it, Unimin, merged with another major producer of sand for industrial uses and as a "proppant" used when fracking sedimentary formations to extract natural gas. After the merger, the new Covia Holdings Corporation sold the Winchester and Western Railroad to OmniTRAX, a Class III operator. OmniTRAX was already providing rail transportation for many of Covia's other quarries.
The Ridgeley Sandstone desposit at Gore has desirable properties for both consistent grain size and the percentage of iron oxide for manufacturers of glass, foundry molds, insulation, and cement. The GLASSIL Melting Sand was 99.64% pure silicon dioxide (SiO2), used to manufacture glass. The Gore quarry also shipped BESTSAND SIGNATURE 500, SIGNATURE 700 and SIGNATURE 900 sand, for use in golf course sand traps and other landscaping purposes, and utility-grade sand for a variety of industrial purposes.1
"About Winchester and Western Railroad Company," OmniTrax, http://omnitrax.com/our-company/our-railroads/winchester-and-western-railroad-company/; "History," Covia Holdings Corporation, https://www.coviacorp.com/about-us/history/; "Winchester & Western Railroad sold for $105M," Winchester Star, October 15, 2019, https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/winchester-western-railroad-sold-for-m/article_d9ebffa6-59ef-50dc-b456-61539b15b64c.html; Covia Holdings Corporation, "Form 10-K For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2018," Securities and Exchange Commission, p.46, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1722287/000156459019009040/cvia-10k_20181231.htm; "GLASSIL Melting Sand Technical Data Sheet," Covia Holdings Corp, https://www.coviacorp.com/media/ak2dapoy/glassil_tds_gore_001_0619_gla_eng.pdf; "BESTSAND," Covia, "https://www.coviacorp.com/products/bestsand-high-performance-sports-sand/"">https://www.coviacorp.com/products/bestsand-high-performance-sports-sand/; "GLASSIL," Covia, https://www.coviacorp.com/products/glassil-high-purity-glass-sand/ (last checked November 17, 2023)
Before completing sale of the Winchester and Western Railroad to OmniTRAX, Covia described the benefits and risks of owning a private railroad in a 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission:1
Covia Holdings Corporation, "Form 10-K For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2018," Securities and Exchange Commission, p.18, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1722287/000156459019009040/cvia-10k_20181231.htm (last checked April 11, 2020)
the Winchester and Western Railroad made it economical to ship sand from a quarry at Gore for 80 years
Source: Esri, ArcGIS Online
The Winchester and Western Railroad still defines the 18 miles of track from Gore to Winchester as the "Sandman Branch." It carries covered hopper cars loaded with industrial silica sand through downtown Winchester to industrial customers; the Gore quarry does not supply energy producers who need proppant sand for fracking. The Winchester Mainline connecting to Hagerstown in 35 miles long.1
"About Winchester and Western Railroad Company," OmniTrax, http://omnitrax.com/our-company/our-railroads/winchester-and-western-railroad-company/; "History," Covia Holdings Corporation, https://www.coviacorp.com/about-us/history/ (last checked April 12, 2020)
In 1986, the Winchester and Western Railroad acquired from Conrail an additional 35 miles of track linking Winchester to Hagerstown, by way of Martinsburg, West Virginia. That year it purchased additional segments of track in New Jersey which provided rail access to other Unimin quarries there, to ensure continued access to the CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines that had divided up Conrail. Had the Winchester and Western Railroad not purchased the track, it probably would have been abandoned.
The Winchester and Western Railroad purchased the Conrail track in 1986 to ensure that the Gore quarry and other customers would have a continuing connection with the Norfolk Southern Railroad in Hagerstown, as well as the CSX line between Winchester-Harpers Ferry (which had been built originally by the Winchester and Potomac Railroad in 1836). Competition between two railroads enhanced the potential for lower costs for shipping by railroad. For industrial sand in particular, the transportation costs could be the greatest factor in pricing the product and winning bids from customers.
the Winchester and Western Railroad interchanges with the CSX in Winchester and Martinsburg, and with the Norfolk Southern in Hagerstown
Source: Winchester and Western Railroad Company, View Map
The 35-mile Winchester-Hagerstown segment had once been part of the Cumberland Valley Railroad. It had extended south from Hagerstown to Martinsburg in ___, and from Martinsburg to Winchester in 1889. The Cumberland Valley Railroad was merged into the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1919.
The Pennsylvania Railroad station in Winchester, and dead-end track to it, was abandoned when Conrail sold the segment of track between Winchester-Hagerstown. The Winchester and Western Railroad declined to continue servicing some produce warehouses on sidings, and they had to switch to trucks.
A connector track with the CSX was retained further north, just outside the city limits. Because the Winchester and Western Railroad had no direct connection with the Conrail track, it has to rely upon trackage rights over the CSX for trains to go from the Sandman Branch via the Winchester Mainline to Hagerstown.
Back in 1980, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had tried to block the Winchester and Western Railroad from using the Conrail track. The B&O sought to deny switching rights on its section of track through Winchester. Blocking a joint route with Conrail would have forced Unimin to use the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to ship all of its industrial sand to customers beyond Winchester. The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which at the time had the authority to set rates and ensure competition, rejected the attempt by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to get a monopoly over the traffic.1
"Winchester & Western Railroad," American-Rails.com, https://www.american-rails.com/winchester.html; "Winchester & Western Railroad - 'The Ol' Weak and Weary'," HawkinsRails, http://hawkinsrails.net/shortlines/ww/ww.html; "Abandoned Rails of Winchester, Virginia," Abandoned Rails, http://www.abandonedrails.com/Winchester_Virginia; "Retricted Switching, Winchester Virginia," Investigation and Suspension Docket No. 9249, Volume 364, Interstate Commerce Commission Reports, August 1980-May 1981, p.295, https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/md3aEMCiCI0C (last checked April 12, 2020)
in 1966, Conrail (red) had two connections (green) to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (blue) in Winchester
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Winchester VA 1:24,000 topographic quadrangle (1966)
after purchasing 35 miles of Conrail track in 1986, the Winchester and Western Railroad (red) retained one link (green) to the CSX (blue)
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Winchester VA 1:24,000 topographic quadrangle (2019)
Currently the Winchester and Western Railroad has two connections with the CSX, one at Winchester and one at Martinsburg, West Virginia. The connection with the Norfolk Southern is further north at Hagerstown, and the last few miles to that point are via trackage rights on former Conrail track not acquired by the Winchester and Western Railroad in 1986.2
"Google Map," Winchester and Western Railroad Company, https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1T4D41rmZUMapQlIYLDZHPfhCC0zWVj5j&ll=39.41849028148992%2C-77.76314394226074&z=10 (last checked August 11, 2010)
the Winchester and Western Railroad uses trackage rights over the CSX line to move through Winchester
Source: ESRI, AcrGIS Online
Covia announced in late 2023 that it would close the Gore mine on February 29, 2024: 2 "Sand mine in Gore with more than 80 years of activity will be idled in 2024," Winchester Star, November 16, 2023, https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/sand-mine-in-gore-with-more-than-80-years-of-activity-will-be-idled-in/article_1558f980-ea28-54dd-bba0-2156b00ddfc2.html (last checked November 17, 2023)
A Winchester and Western Railroad caboose is on display in downtown Winchester next to the Timbrook Public Safety Center. After adopting end-of-train devices that eliminated the need for cabooses, the railroad donated the 1914 caboose to the Winchester Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. It installed it at Clear Brook Park in 1976, but expansion of volleyball facilities required a move.
The caboose was transported down I-81. The wheels and braking system would have required expensive repairs before being hauled on five miles of track to the new location one block from the Loudoun Street Mall.2 "Century-old caboose moving from Clear Brook to downtown Winchester on Saturday," Winchester Star, October 22, 2024, https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/century-old-caboose-moving-from-clear-brook-to-downtown-winchester-on-saturday/article_6f515429-b4f5-5f14-9ad6-1f02797b3e9c.html (last checked October 29, 2024)