Basically, only two items had to be removed before cleaning and painting could begin on this flatcar.

The first was the steel plating. We had to remove 6 large steel plates that covered the deck; these plates were 1/2" thick, 37" wide and either 7' or 10' long. Next, we removed 6 thinner plates that were 1/8" thick, measured 5' x 8' and had rivet holes.

A carbon air arc made fast work of removing the welds that held the steel plating and pieces of steel blocking that had secured the many loads over the years.

The second item to remove was some wood decking that covered only the ends of the car.