The ex-UP National-series sleepers are really outstanding cars, being among the last sleepers built by Pullman Standard. And kind of ironic that they were built so late with 6 open sections, but most know the story behind that.
This car will hopefully go to a good home, though as noted the exterior is rough. And by rough I mean that the side sheets and roof sheets have some rather severe corrosion in many places caused by many years of exposure to the salt air of Santa Barbara, CA. The good news is that the underlying aluminum structure should still be in decent shape, with little to no repairs needed.
The problem with repairing most lightweight aluminum passenger cars is that the side, roof, and end sheets are made of 2024 Alclad, which is basically an aluminum sandwich with 2 different grades of aluminum. It was used because of its' strength, but it is not considered to be weldable. Therefore, cutting away the bad areas and welding in some patches with new material, as one would do with a steel-sided car, becomes quite difficult. Ringling Brothers has had some success with learning to weld patches into this difficult material, since they have a large quantity of ex-UP cars in their fleet. However, it has to be welded precisely under very controlled conditions, and even then you do not have a joint with much integrity.
At any rate, this is an unusual opportunity to pick up a rare car with a very complete interior, where the interior should also be in pretty good condition. So if you're not put off by having to spend some time learning to weld a troublesome grade of aluminum, this would be a fine car for you or your group to save. I'm sure it could move in freight service on it's own wheels with all of the usual work. I don't have a dog in this race, but I am a big fan of the National-series cars.
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