There is nothing oxymoronic about any of it. The contractor is not responsible for these ballast cars that have been owned by the NCRA for years. They wanted to lease cars from outside and ship in ballast from Syar in Napa, but the CFNR is acting like a spoiled child about it.
These cars have not seen much use for a decade so this is not unexpected. It is easy to understand how a list with minor defects can be lost in ten years. All that matters is that they are fixing it and doing it right under the watchful eye of the feds; the best case scenario for the NWP.