Iron Rail Book Collective

The original address of Iron Rail was 511 Marigny Street from 2003 until 2011, in a building known as 'The Ark'. The entire building was evicted by the New Orleans Police Department in March 2011. This forced the temporary closure of Iron Rail and also the Plan-B New Orleans Community Bike Project and Hasbin Wilby’s Recycled Art Supplies. In a statement the collective said that "alleged code and permit violations" were the reasons for the immediate closure. Iron Rail argued that their affairs were in order and because they were a non-profit organisation the permits being requested were not needed. The collective then moved to 503 Barracks Street until February 2014. After this time, pop-up versions of the bookstore occasionally appeared in various venues in New Orleans. As of April 2026, the Iron Rail is located within the cultural and music venue CANOA (Caribbean And New Orleanian Arts) at 4210 St. Claude Avenue in the Bywater neighborhood. ==Bookstore==

The Iron Rail has featured a section of political and underground books for sale. ==Library==

The library contains an extensive collection of radical books on topics including feminism, anarchism, history, race relations, ecology, labor struggles, cultural studies, protest and activism as well as a wide array of other interesting topics like philosophy, art, language, health, fiction and parenting. The library at various times has contained over 5000 titles. There were two types of library memberships, one for residents and one for non-residents. The library was the first project to reopen after Hurricane Katrina. ==The Collective==

The Iron Rail is run by a group of anti-police volunteers working together to present a model for a non-authoritarian structure of organizing. In addition to being a library and bookstore, the Iron Rail is also a hub of radical activism in New Orleans. It regularly featured lectures, talks, discussions and presentations by various travelers, in addition to being the meeting place for many other groups. Kimya Dawson played a benefit for Iron Rail. ==See also==