The restoration of RT8

So Autumn is upon us and it's time for another update on what has been another excellent month. The first job tackled was the remainder of the upstairs coving, panelling and ceiling, which was completed fairly early in the month and left the upper deck looking like less skeletal and more like a bus! A couple of window pans were added on a temporary basis to check sizes and allow the interior mouldings to be checked and fitted.


Following this we started work on the emergency exit. Now this was a slower and more difficult task as RT8's original was in a terrible state. However, it was successfully restored to full working order utilising most of the original parts.



So with this in place the focus moved to the exterior of the bus where, the blind box frame, rear quater panels and blind box glazing went in allowing the rear of the bus to reall take shape.

Meanwhile it was felt approrpriate at this point by Tony to add a route 37 blind being the first route to get 2RT's and thus very likley the first route RT8 operated on!

The rear window pan has again been removed this time to be restored as we know the fitting size is accurate and hopefully that will go back in place early in October and be followed by the lowermost panels.

From there it will be a case of either putting the roof back on, but for this we are awaiting scaffolding and don't yet have a date for it, or tackling the downstairs saloon to bring it up the stage as the upstairs. Either way some good progress should be made and the back end should be largely finished. So don't forget to pop by at the beginning of November for your next fix of RT restoration monthly!