The Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad was incorporated in Arkansas in 1898 for the purpose of acquiring former logging railroad properties in Arkansas and Louisiana. The railroad was constructed and initially operated under the leadership of William Buchanan, a prosperous timberman with extensive investments in southwest Arkansas and northwest Louisiana. Buchanan's partners were Harvey C. Couch and William Edenborn. Buchanan's primary company, Bodcaw Lumber Company, was headquartered in Stamps, Arkansas, and that city also served as headquarters of the L&A until the late 1920s. It was reorganized in 1902 as the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway.

On March 18, 1898, it was chartered as a common carrier, and was extended into Louisiana. Other small lines were purchased the gaps were closed and soon the L&A reached several important cities in Louisiana first city reached was Minden through the purchase of the Arkansas, Louisiana & Southern Railway, running from Cotton Valley, Louisiana, then the southern terminus of the Louisiana & Arkansas. to Sibley, Louisiana. The Arkansas, Louisiana & Southern was built in 1899 and was the successor to an extension of the Minden Railroad (commonly called The Minden Tap), which was built from Sibley to Minden in 1885. The Louisiana & Arkansas built south from Sibley in 1899, and operated over the Arkansas, Louisiana & Southern trackage until that line was purchased on June 1l, 1900. The extension south of Sibley was first to Ashland. Louisiana, the road having been completed into that point on September 25, 1900.

The next extension southward was to Winnfield, Louisiana, reached on May 31, 1902
On December 24, 1903 the line was extended south to Packton, Georgetown Trout and Jena.
Jena was the southern end of the road until it was extended at Alexandria, Louisiana, from Packton, in 1906.


The L&A route into the Alexandria area called for a direct line from Tioga to Alexandria through Pineville, utilizing the Edenborn bridge (of the LR&N to cross the Red River but owner William Edenborn refused to grant such rights to the L&A, so trackage rights were secured from the Iron Mountain and T&P which included a bridge over the Red River. Later when the Rock Island made connection at Packton tracks were extended to the Edenborn Bridge, with a connection at Pineville Junction to the LR&N. Edenborn allowed the Rock Island trains to cross his bridge. For many years only the RI used this short stretch of the L&A rails.

The line was extended into Shreveport on July 1, 1910 using by the purchase of the Minden East & West Railroad.
Service to Vidalia, Louisiana, on the Mississippi River, was effected on July 1, 1917, by lease of the Black River branch of the Missouri Pacific from Black River, opposite Jonesville, to Concordia Louisiana, and by trackage rights over the Missouri Pacific between Concordia and Vidalia.
The Packton to Vidalia section was sold off in 1945 and renamed the Louisiana Midland railroad.

The L&A inaugurated a new premier passenger train, The Shreveporter, on December 30, 1928, operating between Shreveport and Hope, Arkansas. This train carried a through Pullman sleeping car between Shreveport and St. Louis, Missouri, in conjunction with Missouri Pacific Railroad. A second named passenger train, The Hustler, was added to provide overnight service between Shreveport and New Orleans, beginning on July 2, 1932.

During the late 1920s, a group of investors led by Harvey Couch began acquiring Louisiana & Arkansas stock. And gained control of the L&A on January 16, 1928.

The Harvey Couch interests began purchasing stock of the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) in 1937. After gaining control of the KCS in 1939, a decision was made to merge the two properties. Kansas City Southern was the surviving corporation, with the Louisiana & Arkansas as a KCS subsidiary, but the KCS president and the controlling stockholders were all from the L&A. This merger created "single line" railroad freight service between Kansas City and New Orleans, and on September 2, 1940, a new KCS-L&A diesel powered streamliner, the Southern Belle, was inaugurated to connect the two cities.

The identity of the Louisiana & Arkansas gradually disappeared in the 1950s and 1960s, as the Kansas City Southern name was adopted for all properties. By 1966, all reference to the Louisiana & Arkansas had disappeared from the annual stockholder reports of Kansas City Southern. The Shreveporter, once the pride of the L&A, was discontinued on January 24, 1962, and the Southern Belle was discontinued on November 2, 1969, ending all passenger train service on the former Louisiana & Arkansas.

in 1989 the section of the L&A from Ashland to Goldonna to Winnfield was sold for development and use as a recreational trail and today is the Latrails project. See trails here.

In 1992, Kansas City Southern dissolved the subsidiary Louisiana & Arkansas Railway, although parts of the former L&A route continue to be a major component of the Kansas City Southern.