The Windsor and Hantsport Railway was a 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. 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 (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 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 Canadian National Railway on that company's Halifax-Montreal 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 trains 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 fluctuating water level meant that bulk carriers could not