The Weatherford, Mineral Wells and Northwestern Railway built their first line in 1891, connecting Mineral Wells to the Texas and Pacific Railway mainline at Weatherford, 25 miles away. The line was soon purchased by the T&P in 1902, which extended the line another 18 miles to Graford, via Salesville in 1908.
The Gulf, Texas & Western Railroad used a portion of the already-established WMW&NW to access both Mineral Wells and Weatherford from its mainline in Jacksboro. The GT&W built south out of Jacksboro and connected with the WMW&NW at Salesville; this line is also abandoned.
Some of the line was abandoned in sections, and the rest was subsequently merged into the Missouri Pacific, along with the rest of the T&P, in 1988. The following year, the line changed ownership again to the town of Mineral Wells, who purchased the line from MP and operated it as the Mineral Wells and Eastern until 1992 when the remainder of it was abandoned.
A rough timeline of the WMW&NW:
Graford Salesville Mineral Wells Garner Weatherford
================================================================================
1891 | |-------- Built ---------------|
1902 | |---- Purchased by T&P --------|
1908 | |------------ Built -------------|
1936 | |--abandoned--|
1941 | |--- abandoned ----|
1988 | |------ Merged into MP --------|
1989 | |------ Leased to MW&E --------|
1992 | |--------- abandoned ----------|
Today, the right-of-way continues to see use as the Lake Mineral Wells State Trailway.