Louisiana & North West Railroad Company

ncorporated in 1889, the Louisiana & North West Railroad Company still operates 62 miles of shortline pike between Gibsland, Louisiana, northward across the state line to McNeil, Arkansas. The company was a successor to the 117 mile Louisiana North & South Railroad, which ran from Natchitoches, La, to Magnolia, Ar, with unfulfilled plans to run to Forth Smith for 225 total miles. Post-war L&NWTraffic has included lumber, pulp, paper products, chemicals, steel, plastics, and general commodities. The L&NW interchanges on both ends of the line: with the Union Pacific (former St. Louis Southwestern) in McNeil, and with the Kansas City Southern (former MidSouth, nee Illinois Central) at Gibsland. For many years, the shortline was controlled by Gerald Hausman, but the company is now a subsidiary or shortline holding company Patriot Rail. Headquarters are in Homer, La, with shops at Homer and Gibsland.

For at least two decades, the road was well-known among railfans for its unusual stable of Electro-Motive F7 "covered wagons" -- unusual motive power for a backwoods southern shortline whose passenger service ended in 1948. By the early 1990s, however, the F units were sold off to various places, gradually replaced by Geeps from various original owners. The L&NW shops are located at Gibsland, only a few hundred yards southeast from the one the busiest interchange diamonds in region. For decades, three different railroads interchanged in the otherwise obscure north Louisiana town of Gibsland. The switching activity could get so hectic that the daily routine was known among railfans as the "Gibsland Shuffle." More recently, three railroad have gone back to two, as the MidSouth purchased the North Louisiana & Gulf -- the other shortline connecting in Gibsland -- just before being purchased itself by the Class 1 Kansas City Southern.