Donor axle for 8 3/4 - will this work?

Thanks Geof, that gives me hope! And yes we have various shops here that can do the shortening and re-splining so that wont be a problem.

I am wondering though whether the axles that I need are actually the longer B and C body wagon axles (31 21/64") ....I've read that somewhere else but cant be sure if its correctness.

Can anyone shed light on this?

I really need to nail this as the cost of shipping axles from USA is prohibitive, so if I can work with axles sourced here I'm way ahead financially.