Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Oh Dear: Is That Rust?

click on any photo to enlarge

Craig has been spending every available moment pulling body parts out in order to expose the basic frame of the body.
Although the top deck frame is not bad at all, the bottom deck is anything but good.
In fact every piece of it seems to be pretty terrible.

THE WHITE DEPOSITS ARE LEFT BY THE ALUMINIUM CLADDING WHERE IT HAS BEEN IN CONTACT WITH THE STEEL. THE ORANGEY COLOUR OF THE FRAME IS NOT ALL RUST: IT WAS ORIGINALLY COATED IN RED LEAD PRIMER, FROM THE DAYS BEFORE LEAD BECAME BANNED IN PAINT. See below for a shot taken from the opposite direction: the outside of these frame sections looks better than the inside.


SOME FLOORBOARDS HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE TOP DECK FLOOR TO EXPOSE THE HORRENDOUS CONDITION OF THE ROOF BOWS. This view, taken at the nearside looking forward, shows the wood insert in the top hat section steel bow to be in fine condition! All seven bows are similarly affected, so all will be replaced one by one. The wiring appears to be to one of the downstairs saloon lamps, above the longitudinal rear seat.

Fortunately the chassis is unaffected, and the frame parts are not high technology in any way, so if anything the way forward is very clear: make lots of new frame parts from easily obtained steel sections and sheet and weld them together to make what will emerge as a virtually new frame.

THE STAIRCASE AND REAR PLATFORM FLOORBOARDS HAVE BEEN REMOVED. THIS VIEW, LOOKING IN FROM THE ENTRY TO THE REAR PLATFORM, SHOWS WHAT IS LEFT OF THE 1.5" ANGLE IRON SKIRT RAIL. IT LOOKS AS IF THE YEARS AT MANLY AND BROOKVALE, IN SEA AIR, HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLL.


ALSO LOOKING IN FROM THE SAME VANTAGE POINT, SHOWING THE REAR WINDOW FRAME. It can be seen that not one component of the steel frame has escaped the demon rust. Note the closely-spaced holes punched in the inner face of the top hat section: these were partly for lightness, but in buses built before the advent of pop rivets they were also to enable the use of a pneumatic riveter while some poor sod held a heavy dolly onto the rivet head outside. Imagine the noise as the Waddington factory knocked out two completed buses per week.


AT THE NEARSIDE OF THE REAR PLATFORM, LOOKING FORWARD. AT CENTRE BOTTOM OF SHOT IS THE SUBSTANTIAL CHASSIS EXTENSION SUPPORTING THE REAR PLATFORM, STAIRCASE AND REAR PANELS. Slightly to right of centre is the end of the heavy channel section chassis frame. In single decker chasses, this continued to the back of the bus: for double deckers the extension was provided, cranked downwards about 12 inches to create a low entrance level.