Shreveport Union Station

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

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]

Illinois Central:
- Southwestern Limited (Shreveport - Meridian, Mississippi)
Kansas City Southern:
- Shreveporter (Shreveport - Hope, Arkansas)
- Southern Belle (Kansas City - New Orleans)
- unnamed train Kansas City to Port Arthur via Leesville and Beaumont

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.^[2]^[1]^[7] 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.

References

^ ^a ^b Cox 2011, p. 343
^ ^a ^b "Index of Railroad Stations". Official Guide of the Railways. 74 (1). National Railway Publication Company. June 1941.
^ Cox 2011, pp. 342–43
^ Official Guide of the Railways March 1958, Illinois Central section, Kansas City Southern section
^ Official Guide of the Railways December 1951, St. Louis Southwestern Railway section, Southern Pacific section
^ Official Guide of the Railways July 1965, Illinois Central section, Kansas City Southern section
^ "Shreveport Union Station Burned 2 Days After Last Passenger Train" (PDF). Newsletter of the Red River Valley Railroad Historical Society. June 2009.