Many of the KCS negatives that I have been scanning were part of a project around 1925 to document every structure along the railroad. As such, there are lots of photos of very similar little sheds, out houses etc.

Occasionally, these photos catch some incidental details that are interesting. This photo of the Leesville, Louisiana depot Coal House is one of those, to the right of the Coal House, a worker can be seen sitting on a hand car, to the left, the engineer can be seen looking back along the train, probably waiting for a signal from the brakeman or conductor.

Jason Midyette

I wonder if they put "Safety First" on the outhouse doors. That'd be kinda funny, at least to me.

"I wonder if they put "Safety First" on the outhouse doors. That'd be kinda funny, at least to me."

Funny you should mention that, apparently whomever stenciled the Hatfield, Arkansas depot toilet found the idea amusing as well. (Boys will be boys after all)

Of the 50+ negatives of depot outhouses I have scanned, this is the only one with the "Safety First" stencil, so I don't think it was standard KCS practice.

Jason Midyette

Interesting that Leesville had a coal house. It must have been for the infrequent use of the coal stoves, or caboose stoves in the winter, such as the winter is in Leesville.