"Panel track" consists of pre-assembled sections of track which can be carried to locations where temporary track is quickly needed, for example, to bypass or repair a damaged area. The panels are carried on cars like this.

A track panel consists of two rails pre-spiked to wooden ties. Each car can carry five panels which will provide about 165 feet of track. When the temporary track is no longer needed, the panels are picked up and stored for future use.

This car was built in 1952 as a pulpwood car for the Texas & New Orleans Railroad to carry pulpwood logs to a paper mill. It was later converted to a panel track car for parent company Southern Pacific and was donated by the Union Pacific to the museum in 2022.

This 42-foot car was built by General Steel Castings with a shallow V-shaped floor for carrying pulpwood logs, as part of a 50-car order for the Texas & New Orleans Railroad numbered 9000-9049. It was converted in the 1970s to carry panel track sections for the Southern Pacific Railroad maintenance department. Its all-steel floor now has an open framework with storage compartments for carrying tools and supplies.

Early panels were built with two 33-foot rails spiked to wood ties spaced 20 inches apart. The rail can vary from 90 lb to 136 lb in weight per yard. Modern panels are a bit longer, cut to 40-foot lengths from a section of continuous rail, and require longer cars to carry them.

Panel track is sometimes nicknamed "snap track" after the model railroad name for pre-assembled sections of track which are easily snapped together.

	4/18/2022 - Unloading flat car #7035 is complete and moved out of the way.
	4/18/2022 - Unloading at Tumbleweed Park.  The flat car body is being lowered onto the trucks.
	4/18/2022 - Flat car #7035 being loaded onto truck in Gila Bend, AZ.
	4/18/2022 - Flat car #7035 sitting on abandoned siding in Gila Bend, AZ.

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