On 22/3/19 10:38 am, Mal Rowe wrote:
> 2078 is seen in the attached pic at Essendon last night.

>

> It's one of the recent trams to come out of the "Life Extension"

> program and looks great.

>

Is the 'crystal swap' sign written or a large decal ?

I mention this as it appears this modern fascination for decaling on a
livery is going to come and bite big time.

Several people at the last festival day when we had 2107 on display
mentioned the damage to the body panels, particularly around the seams.
This had been caused by water getting trapped under the AOA vinyl and
sitting there causing corrosion of the body panels.

 Talking to some one who looked after a bus depot - they mentioned that
they try to avoid having the AOA on the bus too long and 'rotate' the
buses treated with AOAs in an attempt to stop this very problem getting
out of control and a snide comment about management booking the fees for
advertising as profit and ignoring the extra costs in body repairs
caused by the water that gets under the vinyl.

If the ends are covered in vinyl on the refurbed B2s, in 10 years when
they come out of service the body will be full of rust holes at each end.....

I wonder what the E class will look like in a few years to - they have a
stainless frame like the Variotram, but the body panels are probably
aluminum or mild steel. They will end up full of rust holes.