Another day with Leyland National NPJ472R

Sunday 19th February.

Today was spent continuing to chip away at the seat frames.

Me in action (well posing for photo really)

More work has been done by others since my last visit in December and the photos below give you an idea as to whats been happenning.

Offside front wheel arch

offside

removed panel

offside rear wheel arch

offside

offside rear end

rear complete (i think) awaiting glass and panels

nearside

removed panels

interior shot. all glass except windscreen has been removed

a bit of surface rust behind right hand entrance door

first rear panel goes on (nearside light cluster)

2 removed panels flank a new panel

luggage pen removed for repainting

where the luggage pen was

And finally a couple of photos of my friends other Nationals.

I hope you enjoy these photos showing some of the work involved in restoring a 35 year bus.

The joys of bus preservation

Wednesday 28th Dec and another day with ex Alder Valley Leyland National NPJ472R.

For once today, I actually achieved my task. Todays job was to remove the plasticised coating offs ome of the seat frames. Over the years bits have been picked away so my job was to remove it completely on the affected frames. In the new year the bare metal will be painted black.

Elsewhere more panels were being removed including the rear dome, once the pod had been moved forward on the roof. It proved to be quite stubborn to get off, once all the rivets had been removed. We also had a mad volunteer working on the roof.

Then at the end of the day there was a big shuffle round of the buses in the yard to get NPF completely under cover.

Work continues and later this year NPJ will be back at bus rallys again. We have a target date but its too early to say yet if it will be met.

Additional Update 3/1/2012: NPJ has now had all windows removed (except windscreen) and all panels that need to be replaced have been removed. Removing panels has revealed a fair amount of welding work is required to patch up metal work munched by those nasty tin worms. Painting of previously hidden bits is in progress to protect them from rusting. No photos yet.

Enjoy the photos below.

Rear with a bit of the insides now painted

New emergency door fitted on my last visit

Pod has been moved forward

Seat frames

rear dome halfway off

rear dome now off

and on the floor

rear seat finally out as well

rear seat had a clue where it came from

detachable skirt panels off

bare metal on seat frames

this seat frame needed nothing from me. how they should look

nearside detachables off

now in its temporary home at the back of the lean to.

The back end of a Leyland National

Today (27th November), I helped with the continuing preservation of Leyland National NPJ472R. Former Alder Valley fleet number 251.
Throughout the day most of the panels at the rear were removed, the rear window glass was removed, we replaced the emergency exit door, and I tried, but failed to remove the rear seat.
The aim is to replace the rotten body panels, and prepare the rest for a repaint next year.
Some photos are below. Apologies that the photos aren't better were taken facing into thesun.

Glass removed

Whilst angle griding some rivets off, a spark started a very little fire. It was behind the engine air intake and we soon got backto work.

Where it happened

A little bit of foam got a bit warm

A couple of removed panels

How it looked at the end of the day. Note the new emergency door.