Having just had to get an order of rebuilt accumulators from Imperial, I note the price of these has risen considerably since my last order a year or so ago. The cost of other refurbished RM parts like brake slack adjusters and compressors has risen.

I understand this is due to the scarcity of old "core" units; the fact that some units can no longer rebuilt; the scarcity of parts to rebuild old units; that it can take a lot of hours finding enough re-useable bits in old units to make one good unit; and the scarcity of skilled, experienced labour to undertake such work.

Speaking with Imperial, they said they'd recently made enquiries about getting the internal valves re-made for foot brake valves. I seem to remember this was mentioned on hear a short while ago. Parts can still be made by Lockheed, the tooling still exists, but the cost of a set of valves alone will be in the region of £1500; the minimum order is for 100 sets, with a lead time of over 54 weeks from placing the order.

There's also another batch of brake cylinders being made, so now may be the time to stock up!

My bus number (if any): RML2532 and others