The Windsor and Hantsport Railway was a railway line in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

between Windsor Junction (north of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

) 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 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 Canad ...

subsidiary Dominion Atlantic Railway from 1894 to 1994 before being sold to shortline holding company

Iron Road Railways Iron Road Railways Incorporated (IRR) was a railroad holding company which owned several short line railroads in the U.S. state of Maine, as well as the Canadian provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. IRR was formed in 1994 and headq ...

. 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.

Route description

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 owned by

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

(CN). The WHRC route west of Windsor to Hantsport and ending at New Minas, was built as the Windsor and Annapolis Railway between 1867 and 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 The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

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 1983.

Traffic

The WHRC had no traffic sources on the longest portion of its network, the line between Windsor and Windsor Junction, where it interchanges with

on that company's Halifax-

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

mainline. The majority of WHRC traffic originated at the two gypsum quarries on the spur running east of Windsor. These quarries are owned and operated by Fundy Gypsum Company, a subsidiary of United States Gypsum Corporation. The gypsum from these quarries is hauled by WHRC

unit train A unit train, also called a block train or a trainload service, is a train in which all cars (wagons) carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route. They are dist ...

s to the port at Hantsport for export by ship to the United States. There are several manufacturing and agricultural-related traffic sources in an industrial park in New Minas, west of Hantsport. A summer excursion passenger service between Windsor and Grand Pre was operated in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Hantsport has one of the fastest ship loaders in the world due to its location on the Avon River, which was affected by the incredible tidal range of the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is t ...

. The fluctuating water level meant that

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, eco ...

s could not stay at the dock longer than 3–4 hours for fear of touching bottom. The Hantsport ship loader could move 10,000 tons of gypsum per hour.

2002 line upgrade, Falmouth - Hantsport

In January 2002 WHRC purchased used continuous welded rail from CN for replacing of

jointed rail A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, ...

between Falmouth and Hantsport.

2007 line embargo, Hantsport - New Minas

WHRC embargoed the rail line from Hantsport west to the end of track (west of the New Minas industrial park) in 2007 as a result of deferred maintenance leading to excessive costs for repairing the bridge over the Gaspereau River. WHRC worked with its customers in the New Minas industrial park (a Frito Lay potato chip plant and a Co-Op Atlantic feed mill) to create a rail-truck re-load facility in the WHRC's Windsor yard. Although the track and other infrastructure is still intact, crossings have been paved over and vegetation has been uncontrolled. No freight train has operated west of Hantsport since the line was embargoed, however, WHRC has not applied to Nova Scotia's railway regulator (the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board) to formally abandon the line; a formal abandonment would permit WHRC to scrap the infrastructure and sell the property.

2011 line embargo, Windsor Junction - Hantsport

The 2008-2009 economic downturn reduced residential construction activity in the United States, which was the primary market for gypsum exported from Hantsport. The reduced demand forced Fundy Gypsum Co. to idle its two Windsor area quarries for much of 2010. Parent company USG announced the permanent closure of Fundy Gypsum along with the Hantsport loading facility in late 2011. As a result of loss of freight revenue, WHRC operated its last interchange train from Windsor to Windsor Junction on November 2, 2010. The last gypsum trains ran in the fall of 2011 after the gypsum quarries and Hantsport loader shut down and railway operations ceased by November 15, 2011."Windsor and Hantsport Railway", ''Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Inititative
/ref>

2013 line disposal, Windsor Junction - Windsor

In February 2013 the Windsor to Windsor Junction section of track returned to control of its owner

(CN) after a 99-year lease expired. This line is known as the Windsor Branch and had been built by the Nova Scotia Railway in 1858, with ownership being transferred from the

Government of Nova Scotia The Government of Nova Scotia (french: Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Écosse, gd, Riaghaltas Alba Nuadh) refers to the provincial government of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia is one of Canada's four Atlantic Provinces, and the sec ...

to the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...

in 1867. The NSR was dissolved in 1872 when its assets were merged into the newly formed

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely ow ...

(ICR). The ICR's assets were assumed by Canadian Government Railways (CGR) in 1912. The Windsor Branch was leased by CGR in 1914 for 99 years to the

's (CPR) subsidiary Dominion Atlantic Railway (DAR). A

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

order dated July 22, 1993 authorized the sale of CGR to the then-

Crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

(CN) for one Canadian dollar. The sale of the DAR's assets in 1994 to the WHRC saw the lease of the Windsor Branch transferred to the new company. After the lease expired in February 2013, control of the Windsor Branch's track returned to CN. CN advertised the line for disposal in April 2013.

References

External links

*
Windsor & Hantsport Railway freight train to New Minas 27 June 2007CN description of partner shortline - WHRC
{{Canada railways Nova Scotia railways Transport in Halifax, Nova Scotia Transport in Hants County, Nova Scotia Transport in Kings County, Nova Scotia Spin-offs of the Canadian Pacific Railway Standard gauge railways in Canada