Restoration
Reports 2004
May 2004: Together with good friend and
private car owner Eric Hopp I set out to inspect St. Nicholas Mountain in
Pennsylvania. We looked the car over to see if a restoration and
conversion into a private railcar would be feasible. The restaurant-cut holes
received special attention as these were areas of concern. We
were happy to find that St. Nicholas Mountain was in much better
shape than expected from the information I had received earlier on. The
holes turned out to be the only areas of real concern while the rest of
the car was really not in bad shape. The interior was of course gone but
can be rebuild and in some ways it's easier to start anew. Finding all
the parts will be quite an undertaking though.

October 2004:
With the purchase completed it was time to head out and explore St.
Nicholas Mountain in more detail and start working on its
preservation. As agreed upon in the Bill of Sale an improvised steel
door to the interior was constructed by the previous owner, and center
locking pins were found in the interior ready to be installed. In an
effort to
stop corrosion, work was started on sealing the car to prevent more water
from getting in. First thing done was to cap the large patch. Then the
bad repair patch (between the two restaurant-cut holes) was closed and
sealed. Some clean up of the interior was also done and one of
the folding steps has been made operational making it much easier to
enter the car.
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