Hi lads,
I don't recall any insulation on those type of coaches. I remember that the body side panels were just a thin sheet of timber with an aluminium outer skin glued onto the thin timber panel, and a veneered panel on the inside. There was no framing as such on the sides, instead there was a timber pillar from the cant rail ( top rail) to the bottom side (bottom section) each side of the windows. The only framing that I can remember was around the toilet section, and the end gangway sections of the coach.Also, they were the only coaches that were ever referred to as ( by coachbuilders in Inchicore works anyway. ) laminates. The new sides were done in a cheaper ' hurried up' way of traditional coachbuilding. The timber used for these rebuilds was iroko , which is a cheaper version of the more traditional teak that was used in previous times. Iroko is not a good timber to work with as the grain 'runs' in every direction, especially if you are notching out with a chisel for hinges etc or planing by hand. There was no asbestos on these carriages, the Park Royal coaches were literally stuffed with controversial blue asbestos. The asbestos was removed from each coach by contractors before work began on the Park Royal re- skinning , and interior re - fit programme 1981 / 83.