The machinery factory owned an iron mine on the southern slope of the Appalachians near Iron Hill Springs. Unfortunate the only way of transportation from the mine was by small roads at that time.

In 1988 the company decided to build a railroad from Sandy River to the mine. So, the Sandy River Station was born.

Now begun a prosperous time for the town, and in 1995 a small copper mine was opened north of Sandy River near the towns Staunton and Waynesboro. This well-forested area is called West End, and the company got the name West Forrest Mining Co.

Successfull negotiations with Southern Railroad resulted in that one new track was laid to the West End area. The need for a station was obvious, so the decision to build the West End Station was simple to take. The agreement included also connections to the existing line between Danville and Martinsville earlier operated by Southern Railroad only.

There was now a need for more trackage rights, which we agreed upon with Southern Railroad for the sections Roanoke - Martinsville - Danville - Lynchburg.

Until the end of 2000 there has happend a lot at SR&WF. A new small station called West Forrest is planned to take care of lumber from that woody area. A hump yard is now built in connection with the West End Station according to agreement with Norfolk & Western, and Southern Railroad. It will act as a complement to the yard in Roanoke.

It is also planned for 2002, that two new lines will be built. One from Iron Hill Station to Covington, and one from West End Yard to Waynesboro.
These two lines are passing the newbuilt yard at Cold Spring, and the industry area in Geenville as well.

SR&WF has recently got trackage rights for the sections Roanoke - Knoxville, TN - Cincinnati, OH, operated also by Southern Railroad (SRR), Norfolk & Western (N&W), and Seaboard System Rwy (SSR).

These extensions and agreements opens up possibilities to get a lot of freight transportation to distant interchange points, like Columbus OH, Harrisburg PA, and Richmond and Norfolk here in Virginia.
 

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Due to the policy and history of SR&WF we own very little rolling stock. We have taken over a GP9 from Penn, a GP38 from SOO, and an old F7 from Southern Pacific. During March, 2002 we have taken over a rather new SD40-2 from Milwaukee Road. They are not yet repainted because our personel is limited, and we are fully occupied with development jobs in the Cold Spring and Greenville areas.

Our own tracks to the two mines are single track type because it is hard to build and find place enough in the mountainous landscape.

The planned track to Covington will connect south of the Covington station to a dead end track just before the crossing with Interstate Highway 64. Today the Covington is served by C&O only.

The track to Waynesboro will connect to the south end of the yard before the merge with the C&O line. The main line through Waynesboro is today operated by N&W.

The main stations along our route to Cincinnati are as follow.
Todays operator within ( ).

SR&WF has got trackage rights by negotiations with the following railroads