While these cars will take a great deal of work and money to restore they are certainly not "too far gone" by any means for what the URHS and other groups in the northeast are able to accomplish.
I was involved in the restoration of a similar car CNJ car that wasn't on the Blue Comet, the project included stripping paint from the inside of the car and restoring the original wood work that had been painted or covered over. If you are near New Jersey I welcome you to come to the Black River & Western this summer and take a ride!
Before and after photos of our car:
Additionally the Whippany Railway museum is currently restoring a DL&W club car at the URHS yard in New Jersey, many people also thought this car was too far gone but the project is moving at a good pace and replica DL&W seats have been bought to be used with the car. When this project is done The Blue comet cars will not even be the most complicated restoration to take place at the yard.
Photo source: http://www.railpictures.net/photo/504350/
The Colebrookdale railroad a fairly new tourist railroad in Pennsylvania, is currently turning a former PRR car into a dinning car. This car was 100% gutted and had its windows widened and removed to become an open air excursion car for a previous owner. The car is now receiving an entirely new interior to become a dinning car.
Before photo and a photo during the current restoration:
The railroad preservation community is capable of some amazing things. If these two blue comet coaches are restored they will be joining the Blue Comet observation car that the URHS has already completed a great deal of work on. I hope we can come together and these coaches can join these amazing projects.
More information at: http://urhs.org/blog/urhs-equipment-roster/#cnj1178
