Hinging on success...more progress on 2599 29/11/14

With the move of 1321 up to Nottinghamshire having taken up most of the previous week, the group had been most active in one way or another. To allow us to work on both vehicles simultaneously, Gary was splitting his time between odd jobs on the Tiger and 2599, while we had sought the expert services of Calum's good friend Dominic, a mobile mechanic with Hammonds Coaches of Bilborough, to crack on with a few tasks that needed doing on 1321 to prepare her for her first MOT since 2009. We were buzzing with confidence!

Our attention in this post will return to the star of our show once again - 2599. With work on the battery box almost complete, we were just waiting on suitable materials arriving to finish off and refit the interior floor trap, so Gary turned his attention to another job on the list. Since becoming 2599's custodians back in December 2013, we had had to tie down the rear inspection panels using cable ties due to the plastic hinges being broken and unable to support the weight of the panel. So Paul and Gary set about rectifying this matter.

Now Gary has many years of expertise under his belt, both maintaining buses and operating them, and in this time has accumulated a large supply of parts, including stainless steel piano hinges from 1970's Duple products, which came in most handy for this task. So these were used to replace the broken plastic hinges on the rear inspection panels, and upon completion of the work the panel will now support its own weight and will stay open when instructed, instead of having to be tied open or tied to the bodywork. All that remains to do is to find a smaller piece of steel to fit to the oil filler cap, before overhauling the budget locks. All in all, a small task, but yet another one ticked off the list of jobs to do to get 2599 closer to its first MOT in several years.