In February of 1975 Mike Palmieri was visiting the Louisiana & North West Railroad’s facility in Gibsland, Louisiana. The L&NW operates 62 miles of shortline pike between Gibsland, northward across the state line to McNeil, Arkansas. At this time, it interchanged with two railroads in Gibsland: the Illinois Central Gulf, and the North Louisiana & Gulf.

Once a day there was a flurry of activity lasting for several hours when the ICG and NL&G railroads came into Gibsland to interchange cars with the L&NW. The action could be intense during that time, and the activity became known as “The Gibsland Shuffle”.

While there, Mike spotted this interesting little structure, recording and labeling it as the ICG “depot” in Gibsland, La. Its sign is almost bigger than the depot! I would speculate that the building has a telephone inside, and the box on the wall held the paperwork covering the cars that the crew was interchanging with the L&NW.

This depot is too cool not to share! 🙂