Lionel Stuff: Is it a shack or a freight platform

Not much has been written about Lionel structures from the MPC  to early modern era. Most of my searches just direct me to ebay or another site which re-directs me to ebay. Lionel released some really interesting structures during that period. Today, I pay homage to a humble track-side structure.
Personally this freight platform is one of my favorite track-side structures. I assembled this late MPC era kit ( in the photo above) in Fall and gave it some paint. Really smart looking building. Not sure if there was a prototype but such a building is plausible.
Lionel has released this model numerous times since the MPC/General Mills era. They mostly referred to the structure as a freight platform although there is documentation that it was also called the hideout shack. First released as a kit which required assembly and glue. I wholeheartedly disagree with a claim on an early box that it is a snap together structure. It is not. But later on Lionel rectified that by offering it as a pre-built accessory. The 2012 and 2013 catalogs had the freight platform pre-built, weathered, and included a light.
Slightly modified structures were cataloged under a few different names over the years. In 2002 Lionel cataloged the structure with some hobo figures, a smoke unit and a dilapidated look as the Smoking Hobo Shack. In 2013 it was released ready built without the overhanging roof and freight door but with Boy Scout insignia on one side and a flag pole and interior light.
Lionel also released a wood version of this structure in G scale in 1989 while trying to work the large scale market.