What's Next for the Railcars Parked on Cheyenne's West 15th Street?
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
The largest words on caboose FTSX 812 say "DO NOT HUMP," in capital letters. Mike Pannell, president of the High Plains Railroad Preservation Association, knew the stencil would get some looks while his crew restored the car for downtown Cheyenne. He offered to paint it out. "They decided to keep it," he told Cowboy State Daily in June.
The phrase dates from Union Pacific's working yards. North Platte has a hump yard, where crews pushed boxcars over a raised section of track and let them roll free onto different tracks without a locomotive. This caboose carries boxy equipment hung low under its belly, so it would have grounded on the hump. In Pannell's words, "you couldn't have done that with them."
That caboose now sits on faux track along West 15th Street with two restored passenger cars and a temporary fence around all three. If you've driven past since summer, you've seen the most finished part of a project that's mostly still on paper. The city placed the cars first on purpose, and almost everything about the block's future will be designed around where they now sit.
The city gave two reasons, and both are practical.
The first was money with a deadline attached. Sophia Maes, executive director of the Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority, told Your Wyoming Link that the cars had to be in place by July 14 to meet the terms of a federal Economic Development Administration grant worth more than $600,000. If the city missed that date, it could have had to pay the grant back. The move was scheduled for June 28 through 30. Crews spent about two and a half days moving the cars from a staging area in Carpenter and setting them in place, starting on a Saturday evening.
The second reason was size. The city said the cars had to go in first because future improvements "will be built around the cars." Once three full-size railcars are sitting on a downtown block, they set the layout. Lighting, landscaping, parking and the plaza all have to fit around them.
The paint carries meaning too. One passenger car is Pullman green, a standard color on Union Pacific passenger cars dating from 1925 and 1927. The caboose is Kenefick Green, a historic Union Pacific maintenance color chosen to honor the track and maintenance workers who built and kept up the railroad across the region.
The city installed temporary fencing in July and called it protection until something permanent is built. The permanent fencing belongs to the next phase of corridor work, planned for 2027, and will use materials that match the fencing at the Historic Depot.
A July city release describes the 15th Street Experience as running from the Historic Depot to Bent Avenue, while the city's project page and the DDA describe it as Capitol Avenue to Bent Avenue. The city lists new lighting, landscaping and streetscape work with a railroad theme, safer conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, and a net gain in parking. Over time it's meant to connect to future Greenway links and to the Reed Avenue Corridor Project. In a June update, City Engineer Tom Cobb listed 15th Street implementation among the major design efforts for 2027 and 2028.
As of January 2026, the first phase wasn't fully paid for. Here's the breakdown the city posted then on its 15th Street Experience project page. We haven't found a newer funding update:
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| American Rescue Plan Act grant through the EDA | $618K |
| Other city and Depot Museum funds | $1.8M |
| Approximate amount still needed to finish Phase 1 | $1M |
| Phase 1 budget | $3.45M |
Different sources report different totals. Cowboy State Daily called it a $5 million project, paid for in part by a $618,400 EDA grant and 6th Penny funds set aside for downtown projects. The city's $3.45 million figure covers Phase 1 only. The larger number appears to describe a broader scope, so read each total as its source's own count.
The design isn't finished either. In July, the city said the next step was completing the master plan design, with a dedicated project manager in the City Engineering Department overseeing landscaping, lighting, utility connections and the plaza. As of early October, we haven't found any public announcement of a hire, a released master plan, or a council vote specific to 15th Street since then.
The team in charge downtown has also been reorganizing. On August 7, the DDA board voted to recommend moving the DDA into the city's Community Recreation & Events Department. Draft minutes from that meeting say Maes was selected as a dual deputy director under the new setup. The DDA's next public meeting is scheduled for October 15.
15th Street is meant to feed into Reed Avenue, and Reed's plans are further along on paper. The city's 30 percent design turns Reed into public space from 15th to 23rd Street in the West Edge. It includes a pedestrian promenade east of the tracks, a BNSF maintenance road on the west side, and fencing between the public space and the active rail line. It also proposes a tunnel under Lincoln Way and closing crossings at 17th, 18th, 21st and Dillon.
In April, City Council approved $5 million from general-fund reserves for Reed. The ordinance doesn't allow any of it to be spent until the city reaches a final agreement with BNSF. The DDA describes 15th Street as the link between the Reed improvements and the rest of downtown. Each project depends partly on the other, and both still have open questions.
For now, the railcars are static displays. Maes has described the original idea as giving people a cheaper way to start a business than leasing a traditional storefront. "Things like pop ups, salons, there's some other communities that have utilized old rail cars to create more space, more opportunities for vendors," she said. Cowboy State Daily pictured one car's back deck as a possible spot to watch trains come into Cheyenne, if a business ever moved in. No operator or vendor plan has been announced.
The project has drawn debate. People have asked whether railcars are the best use of limited downtown space and public money, and raised concerns about lost parking and the future of long-running attractions like the Cheyenne Gunslingers. Roger Barnes of the Gunslingers told Cowboy State Daily in June that the group won't move right away but will eventually move its performances to the corner of Thomes and West 15th Street.
Supporters see the project as a way to get more visitors downtown. Domenic Bravo, Visit Cheyenne's former CEO and now director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism, explained the idea simply. People can't get into the rail yard Union Pacific manages, so "the idea was to bring actual rail cars onto 15th Street, so people can see them." Visit Cheyenne CEO Jim Walter says visitors come for Depot Days and year-round to see the Depot Museum, and many of them ask about Big Boy and the Steam Shop.
Until 2027 construction starts, the Depot at 121 W. 15th Street is still the center of the block. It's a National Historic Landmark with the Cheyenne Depot Museum, a visitor center, a coffee shop, a restaurant and an outdoor plaza used for events. Here's the published calendar for the rest of 2026 on and near the railcar stretch:
The December Saturdays put holiday activities at 15th and Pioneer and at 15th and Thomes, the same corner where the Gunslingers plan to perform eventually. The cars sit on that same stretch of 15th Street.
Changes to downtown blocks like this one can shape how nearby homes and buildings are used and valued for years. If you own property downtown or in the West Edge and want to talk through what the 15th Street and Reed Avenue plans could mean for it, Kari Happold and the team would be glad to sit down with you. Kari, Mike and Cade follow these projects closely, and a conversation costs you nothing. Contact Us.
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