W86500 Restoration - October 2009

Restoration work on W86500 has now started. The end doors, once used for versatile loading but now long seized, have been freed off and the wooden components removed for refurbishment. The underframe of the vehicle, along with the steel components of the end doors, has been shot blasted and painted black. Hopefully the photos show what a transformation this has been, with the whole vehicle from solebar downwards now looking presentable.

You can make a direct comparison between the images of the end door (below left) on this page and on last month's page where the end was seen before the work started. The removal of the end doors for refurbishment, plus the delay in getting shed space to start the bodysides and roof, has resulted in the vehicle being temporarily outside without doors, gaining it the name "the wind-tunnel GUV"! As can be seen by the bottom right image, the shot blasting and black spraying has thoroughly covered all visible underframe components such as chassis members, vacuum cylinders and dynamos etc.

The decision to use this process, while more expensive than other methods, makes the cosmetic restoration of the metalwork on the ends and under floor level infinitely quicker and kick starts the return of W86500's exterior back to original 1956 condition. Work is now continuing on the timber end doors while W86500 waits for its turn undercover.