interesting film on bus refurb’s.
youtu.be/iFC7QTZc5Do
m.a.n rules:
interesting film on bus refurb’s.
youtu.be/iFC7QTZc5Do
Fantastic. Economy of scale at its best! Robert
This is how it was done pre WW2 when everything including the initial manufacture of bodies was done at Chiswick. In those days the overhauls were much more frequent, mainly because the bodies were entirely wooden framed. Post war when Aldenham came on line, it was only the mechanical units which went to Chiswick. The Aldenham overhauls did not involve sending the major driveline components to Chicwick, this was only done as required. As a rule the garages did not get involved any deeper with mechanical work than what could be completed in a day by two or three men. This meant that exchange units were the norm.
What is not made clear in the Aldenham film is that when a bus arrived it was stripped of its identity and the tax disc, number plates, chassis number and ‘bonnet number’ were transferred to a vehicle that had gone through the works and was now ready to return to service. A float of spare bodies was kept in the system to allow for major accident damage repairs among other reasons. Occasionally a bus ‘identity’ arriving would go straight into this float and not reappear for possibly several years.
youtube.com/watch?v=PpKPdO7yq1Y
Coming up to date, removing the outer panels on one of these vehicles generally reveals little more than wood which has turned to dust and wafer thin rust.