2024-01-14 11:05:36
Winchester & Western train No. 103, the last run of service to the Covia sand mine at Gore, Va., passes the former site of a station at Gainesboro, Va., on Jan. 3, 2024. Mason Y. Cooper
GORE, Va. — A sand mine that has provided the majority of carload traffic for the original main line of the Winchester & Western Railroad for 80 years is preparing to close, with an uncertain impact on what is now the railroad’s Virginia Division.
The Winchester Star reports the mine in Gore stopped accepting orders as of Dec. 15 and will be closed by owner Covia Corp. by Feb. 29. Covia was formed by a 2018 merger of the mine’s prior owner, Unimin — which also owned the railroad — with Fairmont-Santrol; the new company soon sold the railroad to OmniTRAX, the transportation holding company that is a major short line owner.
The Winchester & Western Railroad was formed in 1916 to haul timber products, mainly railroad ties, west from West Virginia forests to Winchester for interchange. By 1921, the railroad had reached Wardensville, W.Va., and the Winchester Lumber Co., which soon constructed a narrow-gauge logging railroad, the Lost River Railroad, into the surrounding woodlands. The Great Depression and depletion of the Wardensville area’s timber resources forced the Winchester & Western to begin cutting back its main line and, by 1944, the railroad’s western terminus was Gore, site of the rapidly expanding sand mine. Gore became the Winchester & Western’s headquarters and the site of its shops and rail yards, and sand from the mine would remain the railroad’s chief source of revenue for decades.
The railroad expanded northeastward to Williamsport, Md., with connections to CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern, in 1986 when it bought Conrail’s Winchester Secondary, It purchased three New Jersey shortlines that also served Unimin interests and had connections to the same two Class 1 railroads in 1987. After that, the original Winchester & Western became the railroad’s Virginia Division, with the line to Gore as the Sandman Branch, and the New Jersey operations became the railroad’s New Jersey Division.
With the mine closing, the railroad’s offices having moved to Martinsburg, W.Va., and reports that OmniTRAX was selling off some of Winchester & Western’s sand hoppers, speculation centers on the future of the 18-mile Sandman Branch and the railroad’s shops in Gore. OmniTRAX has not responded to a request for comment.
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