The SBVR is owned and operated by the West Virginia State Rail Authority (SRA), who purchased it from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on October 11, 1978.

The company's objective was to construct a railroad from the Kentucky border extending across the state to West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.

The line's northern terminus was to be designated a location in close proximity to the South Branch along the Maryland border on the Potomac.

Shortly after the West Virginia Railroad Company folded, businessmen and entrepreneurs in the South Branch Valley sought to take matters in their own hands and build a railroad from Petersburg to Green Spring on the B&O's mainline to Cumberland, Maryland and Martinsburg, West Virginia.

The line finally became a reality on September 1, 1884 when it was completed from Romney to Green Spring by the South Branch Railroad Company.

The South Branch Railroad Company was another group of local entrepreneurs, including Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates Alexander W. Monroe, who were especially concerned with connecting Romney to the B&O mainline because of its key location along the Northwestern Turnpike (today's US 50).

West Romney Station's post office was later referred to as Vanderlip in honor of a B&O executive following its purchase of Hampshire Southern.

Hampshire Southern continued the construction of its line along the western bank of the South Branch through The Trough and into Hardy County.

Students from Green Spring, Springfield, and other points along the B&O line used the train to commute to Romney's senior high school.

The West Virginia State Rail Authority (SRA) purchased the line from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on October 11, 1978.