The pink bunk car, meanwhile, started life in 1929 as a UP automobile car - a large boxcar with large doors.
In 1941 it was converted to an ordinary boxcar. Sometime in the late 1940s it was converted to a bunk car. Bunk cars carried crews on the line to perform road maintenance and gave them a place to sleep.
At some point, Ostresh said, the car was purchased by the Wyoming-Colorado Railroad, which operated on the old UP coal branch from Laramie to Centennial, Fox Park and Walden. The Wyoming-Colorado Railroad operated the train as a tourist line and brought in the bunk car to use as a ticket office.
"At that point I guess it was painted pink," Ostresh said.
He said it was amazing how quickly the railroad heritage park project took off. The original intent was to save the bunk car. The rail car now belongs to the Laramie Depot Association.