For 75-some years, an old Union Pacific box car had a home on Chalk Bluff Road in Cheyenne, slowly but surely sinking into the dirt.
The once-red paint on its metal end has faded, while bare wood shows the weathering of sun and wind and time.
Casual passersby could be forgiven for thinking the old car looks as if it’s ready for the junk heap. But to train enthusiast and vintage railroad expert Michael Pannell, what he sees in the 113-year-old box car is something more like treasure.
There’s history in this railcar. It’s waiting to be found, to be polished up and then treasured. And Pannell is more than glad to do it. It’s the mission of his nonprofit, High Plains Railroad Preservation.
“This boxcar is one I’ve been watching for a long, long time,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “And I’d actually asked the owners 10 years ago if I could go and look at it.”
Pannell, who is from a seaside town on the south coast of England, got the usual reaction when the boxcar’s owner at the time heard him speak.
“People are curious why an English person wants to look at a wreck of a railroad car,” he said. “But they let me look inside it and everything.”
What Pannell saw inside was eye-popping and jaw-dropping. The car was chock full of old household items, but that wasn’t what had him so excited.
“There were signatures all over the walls and dates and everything,” he said. “So, I think it’s more like a museum to railroad workers than a boxcar.”
The signatures would have most likely come from railroad workers who occupied the car after it was converted to an outfit car.
An outfit car, sometimes called a camp car, provided housing and cooking facilities for railroad construction and maintenance workers and their families.
Pannell asked the owners about buying the car on the spot, but they weren’t interested in selling it at the time. Eventually, though, the car turned up on Facebook marketplace, just as he’d feared it might.
“The Realtor posted it saying it’s available for free barn wood and parts if anyone wants to come and get bits of it, wood and stuff like that,” Pannell said. “Come and get what you want.”
Pannell knew he had to act quickly, or the special train car would be scavenged away, into oblivion, and all those signatures and their history would be lost.
“I went and inquired of the Realtor, Victoria Ganskow, I said, ‘Can we save the whole thing? Can we pull the whole thing out?’” Pannell said.
Ganskow was more than happy to have someone come and take the whole car off the property.
In fact, Pannell said she was even willing to help with the removal, knowing that if someone else didn’t take it away, they’d get stuck with the expense of doing it themselves.
Michael Pannell holds up a picture of an old Atlas missile, which he has hanging up in his train restoration workshop. At some point he'd like to turn one of the three missile silo sites into a museum. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Train enthusiast and vintage railcar expert Michael Pannell has rescued a 113-year-old boxcar from oblivion in Cheyenne. Inside, the car has signatures of workers, something Pannell intends to preserve. (Courtesy Michael Pannell) 
Micheal Pannell talks about a recent restoration project that he completed at his train restoration workshop in an old Atlas missile silo 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter. Pannell keeps a storyboard for each project, with photos and diagrams and other notes, so that the restoration remains true to the original. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Mike Pannell talks about Utah's Merci car, one of his most recent restoration projects. The car is one of 49 sent to America to thank the nation for its efforts during World War II. The cars were filled with tens of thousands of gifts from the French people. Wyoming's Merci car is out on Lincoln Way. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Arvada, Colorado's, .04 car is another of Mike Pannell's recent restoration projects. It's finished and just waiting on the city to arrange for its transport back home. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Mike Pannell also refurbishes things like these luggage carts, which the railroad used to transport luggage and cargo. The sales help support his nonprofit, which is dedicated to rescuing late 1800s to early 1900s train cars. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
These 40-foot Brooks Scanlon log cars from the 1920s were in Chiloquin, Oregon, at the Collier logging museum. They were burned up in a fire, shown at left, and sent to Mike Pannell, who lives near Carpenter, for restoration, shown at right. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Etched glass windows and fancy molded wood lay beneath multiple layers of paint in this old Pullman car, which is being restored at an old Atlas missile silo train restoration workshop 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Fancy gold leaf was discovered underneath multiple layers of paint on this old Pullman car being restored at an old Atlas missile silo train restoration workshop 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Digging It Out
Moving the Chalk Bluff train car was not an easy proposition.
“It had sunk by about 2 feet over the years,” Pannell said. “And we think it’s been there since probably 1950.”
Getting it up out of the dirt involved a lot of careful digging and block work to keep the train car as level and stable as possible.
“Every time we blocked it up, it kept sinking back in,” Pannell said. “It was a lot heavier than we thought.”
Pannell also had to offload a different train car so he would have a trailer to use to transport the new emergency rescue to his restoration workshop, which is located at an old Atlas missile silo about 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter.
“We didn’t know what the car weighed really,” Pannell said. “The records told us the weight with the wheels and everything. So, we had to guess the wheel weight and take that off. And then you had to try to work out all the stuff inside.”
Pannell and his friends were all taking bets on what the train car would actually weigh. The highest guess was 40,000 pounds, while Pannell’s was the lowest at 30,000 pounds.
“I was the winner at 30, because it came in at 28,900,” he said.
That weight still makes the car one of the heaviest things Pannell has ever tried moving.
“We had a crane come from Fort Collins to lift the car and put it on a frame,” Pannell said. “And then Winkler Brothers Towing came out to tow it, because they’re quite good and most towing companies would look at it and go, ‘I’m not interested,’ but they don’t mind.”
The journey on Chalk Bluff Road was difficult, Pannell said.
“It’s got so many repair patches on it, it’s really rough,” he said. “And then you’ve got a dirt section, which goes on for a couple of miles or more, which is rough as well. So, all in all, the whole route isn’t very good. So, we just took it slowly.”
A little mud and a few rotten bits of wood are all that fell off, Pannell said. He’s counting that as a win.
“Now I’m just trying to uncover some of the windows to see if we have any window sashes remaining,” he said. “We’ve got one set, but we’re missing some, which is a shame.”
He’s also found some old photographs and an old, personal telephone book and address book.
“We might find some people who know something about the car, and find out more about its history,” Pannell said. “That gives a bit of personality to things.”
Pannell And Trains
Pannell has been a train enthusiast for as long as he can remember.
His earliest memories are playing with trains with his brother and his father in the home he grew up in Hastings, a seaside town and borough in East Sussex.
His father had set up train tracks all over the house for he and his boys to run their trains on. Those tracks even went his own home office, where he worked during the day.
“He removed bricks between the walls of the lounge and his office, so the trains would run all the way through, whilst he was working,” Pannell recalled.
To this day, Panell thinks his dad just wanted to be part of all the train adventures, no matter when they were happening. That kept him involved in his children’s lives, even when work was demanding his time.
“He just loved trains and was always building new layouts for us and him, too,” Pannell said. “And that’s where I get my love for trains. It was all dad’s fault.”
His obsession with trains is what ultimately landed Pannell in America, because the trains here are “bigger and better” than those in Europe.
Cheyenne, meanwhile, is a town that was built by trains.
Union Pacific landed in Cheyenne in 1867, building both a line and a depot, all at the direction of Gen. Grenville M. Dodge. The Union Army officer helped spearhead the trail of the transcontinental railroad and had settled on Cheyenne as the most strategic location for the route because there was access to water, and a gradual, workable ascent over the Laramie Range.
Near Cheyenne, Pannell also found what he considers an ideal workshop. The old Atlas Missile silo sites are long enough to fit three fairly long train cars down one side, and another three fairly long train cars down the other side, with plenty of room to walk between.
That’s a total of six cars inside the workshop at any one time.
Train enthusiast and vintage railcar expert Michael Pannell has rescued a 113-year-old boxcar from oblivion in Cheyenne. Inside, the car has signatures of workers, something Pannell intends to preserve. (Courtesy Michael Pannell) 
Train enthusiast and vintage railcar expert Michael Pannell has rescued a 113-year-old boxcar from oblivion in Cheyenne. Inside, the car has signatures of workers, something Pannell intends to preserve. (Courtesy Michael Pannell) 
This old Pullman car had been used for a house in Cheyenne for 54 years. It's being restored by Michael Pannell at his train restoration workshop in an old Atlas missile silo 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
It's not all about railcars. Michael Pannell also enjoys restoring old buses as well. The bus on the right is an old mobile post office sorting bus. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
An old Atlas missile silo serves as a train restoration workshop for vintage rail car expert Michael Parnell, who lives 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne, near Carpenter. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
One of the old rail cars that Michael Pannell is working on restoring at an old Atlas missile silo workshop 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) This old Pullman car had been used for a house in Cheyenne for 54 years. It's being restored by Michael Pannell at his train restoration workshop in an old Atlas missile silo 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
This truck with the chain attached to the tire is a makeshift garge door opener for Mike Pannell's Atlas missile silo train workshop. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Railroad signs also find a home at Michael Pannell's train restoration workshop at an old Atlas missile silo workshop 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
These patterns are made to use with a lathe he found at an estate sale that was designed by a Russian woodworker. The design allows multiple, identical copies to be made of a particular pattern, and has proven useful for Michael Pannell's train restoration projects. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
This train car may be one of the oldest around, according to Michael Pannell, who is working on restoring it at an old Atlas missile silo workshop 30 minutes outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Restoring Railroad Cars
While it seemed like a lot of room at the time, Pannell decided to rent the location. These days, Pannell has more train cars awaiting restoration than that.
That means the 113-year-old box car he’s just rescued will have to wait its turn for restoration.
Pannell already has some pretty special projects ahead of it, a couple of which are either complete or nearly so.
Among these is Arvada, Colorado’s last operable .04 car, as well as Utah’s 1949 “Merci Car.”
“France sent over 49 of these to the United States and they were full of gifts to thank the U.S. people for the war effort,” Pannell said. “And one of these went to each state in the U.S.”
Each of the Merci cars was filled with tens of thousands of gifts from the French people. Wyoming’s is located on Lincoln Way in Cheyenne, Pannell added.
Pannell has been working on Utah’s Merci car since April, and it’s now ready to go back to its home at Ogden’s Union Station.
“These were known as 40 and eight box cars,” Pannell said. “They could carry 40 men or eight horses.”
They were used during both World Wars to transport troops, horses and freight.
The history of the Merci cars has been largely forgotten and is something Pannell is glad he could play a role in preserving.
In fact, that’s what he likes about all the railcars he’s restoring. Each and every one of them is saving history that would otherwise be lost to the ages.
Each of the train cars Pannell preserves are a bit like archaeology projects, where interesting tidbits of history emerge as he’s digging into the layers and restoring the train car of old.
Like the Pullman train car he’s restoring, which Pannell said is one that was ordered by Grenville Dodge himself.
Pannell started that restoration by scraping layer upon layer of paint from the ceiling panels and the walls. That uncovered intricate gold leaf on the ceilings, as well as fancy, etched glass for all the windows.
He’s also found a number of shipping labels tacked to pieces of wood that had once been part of shipping crates. The wood had been repurposed and reused in the train car to build a second floor, covering up the first floor. These signatures, he feels, should be displayed in the train car, to preserve what had been hidden history.
Another car he’s restoring, which came from a ranch in Boulder, is he believes the oldest Union Pacific railway car left in existence.
“We knew it was at least 1880 when we found it, because the records and the number tell us that,” he said. “But when we took the siding off, we found all these window positions on here, which takes it back another 10 years before that, even. So, this is a really, really ancient car.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
