Lost Railroad Stations

At least four railroad stations once stood in Lake Charles, and all have been lost. On Railroad Avenue at Bilbo were passenger and freight stations, built circa 1880, for the Louisiana Western Railroad, later Southern Pacific, which ran to points east and west, and for the Lake Charles and Northern Railroad, which ran north to DeRidder, Louisiana. The passenger station was lost to fire in 1984, and the freight station was demolished shortly afterward. Salvaged metal brackets from them can be seen in the Amtrak Station on Railroad Avenue at Ryan Street. Kansas City Southern's passenger terminal, built in 1925, stood at the corner of Ryan Street and Pryce Street, originally Lawrence Street, and connected north to the main line at DeQuincy, Louisiana. That terminal was demolished in 1989. The 1925 station had replaced an earlier Union Station, built circa 1894, at Pryce and Front Street. That site had also been the location of the Iron Mountain–Missouri Pacific Terminal, circa 1892, whose rail line curved south on Common Street and then east and north to connect to Alexandria and points north. That terminal was demolished in the late 1960s.

Lake Charles, Louisiana · United States