It has always been independent of larger carriers, and was previously owned by the Potlatch Corporation, a lumber company, until January 2010.

[1] WSR traffic generally consists of outbound lumber and other forest products.

[2] The Warren, Johnsville and Saline River Railroad was incorporated in August 1905 to serve logging operations in Bradley County.

[4] The branch to Gospel was abandoned at some point, and in 1985 the mainline to Hermitage was cut back to Cloquet.

On December 5, 2014, Genesee & Wyoming filed a Notice of Exemption with the Surface Transportation Board to acquire WSR along with AKMD and another affiliate Prescott & Northwestern Railroad (PNW) from Pinsly.