Shreveport Union Station

Shreveport Union Station was a passenger station on Louisiana Avenue, at Lake Street, Shreveport, Louisiana. Built in 1897 by the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Terminal Company, it was the oldest of Shreveport's four passenger railroad stations. With a tall tower, the station became a landmark in downtown Shreveport. It had its highest levels of service in the 1920s, typically hosting 35 passenger trains a day.[1]

As a union station, it was served by trains of the Kansas City Southern Railway, Illinois Central, St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt), and Southern Pacific.[2][3]

Passenger operations

Noteworthy passenger trains in 1958 included:[4]

Noteworthy passenger trains in 1951 consisted of:[5]

  • St. Louis Southwestern Railway:
    • unnamed Shreveport to Lewisville train (connecting with St.L.Sw. mainline and Lone Star in Lewisville)
  • Southern Pacific:
    • unnamed Shreveport to Galveston via Houston trains

Decline and demise

By 1965, service reduced to the Illinois Central's Southwestern Limited and the Kansas City Southern's Kansas City, NewOrleans and Port Arthur trains.[6]

The Southern Belle, the last train to serve Union Station, had its final run on November 2, 1969. The station closed the next day. The station burned two days after the station's closing. The fire department indicated that the fire began in the basement. The remaining parts of the building were soon demolished.[7][8][9] The Texas and Pacific's remnant of its Louisiana Eagle was the final train to serve Shreveport, at the T&P station in the city.

See also

References
  1. Cox, Jim. Rails Across Dixie, McFarland and Company, Inc., 2011, p. 343 ISBN 9781476666013.
  2. "Index of Railroad Stations". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 74 (1). June 1941.
  3. Cox, Jim. Rails Across Dixie, McFarland and Company, Inc., 2011, p. 342-43 ISBN 9781476666013.
  4. Official Guide of the Railways March 1958, Illinois Central section, Kansas City Southern section
  5. Official Guide of the Railways December 1951, St. Louis Southwestern Railway section, Southern Pacific section
  6. Official Guide of the Railways July 1965, Illinois Central section, Kansas City Southern section
  7. "Index of Railroad Stations". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 74 (1). June 1941.
  8. Cox, Jim. Rails Across Dixie, McFarland and Company, Inc., 2011, p. 343 ISBN 9781476666013.
  9. Newsletter of the Red River Valley Railroad Historical Society, June 2009, 'Shreveport Union Station Burned 2 Days After Last Passenger Train' http://www.rrvrhs.org/linked/rrnewsletterjune2009.pdf
Preceding station Illinois Central Railroad Following station
Terminus Vicksburg Route Division Bossier City
toward Meridian
Preceding station Kansas City Southern Railway Following station
Blanchard
toward Kansas City
 Main Line Forbing
toward Port Arthur
Terminus Shreveport – Minden Silver Lake Junction
toward Minden
Preceding station Missouri Pacific Railroad Following station
Reisor
toward El Paso
 Texas and Pacific Railway Main Line Keithville
toward New Orleans
Preceding station St. Louis Southwestern Railway Following station
Terminus Shreveport – Lewisville Brownlee
toward Lewisville

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