Throughout the last century, rail stations dotted south Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast as passenger trains ferried commuters between New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Mobile, stopping in towns and cities along the way.

But the last several decades have not been kind to passenger rail. Kansas City Southern ended its Southern Belle service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in 1969. Then, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the tracks between New Orleans and Mobile, putting a halt to the service eastward and turning depots along the coast into artifacts of a bygone era.