Finally, after years of waiting, 22583, Wigans MANviro that simply refused to die, has return home from Stockport.
While 22583 was new to Stagecoach Western in Scotland, it arrived in Wigan in 2016, as part of a fleet upgrade to remove the oldest buses, mainly the S / T / X & 51 plate ALX 300s from service. This, along with sisters 22582/6/7 and the first MANviro to roll off the factory line, 22521, all entered front line service at Wigan. Across the Stagecoach group, the MAN 18.240 / 18.250 Enviro 300s were not uncommon, however in Manchester these were the only 5, making them rather unique to Wigan. They all remained in service, until Covid, where they were withdrawn for a short period, and to everyone’s amazement re-entered service when service returned to normal. One by one the mans were plucked from service, 22583 going off the road for several months, however when 22521 was withdrawn, she made a return, becoming the last MAN chassied bus to operate in service with Stagecoach Manchester.
22583 is a MAN 18.240LF (A69) Enviro 300, powered by a 6.8 litre MAN DO836 engine, driven by a 4 speed Voith DIWA gearbox.
-
First off, you may be asking why… Why buy this, an ex training bus when there are plenty still running around that would’ve come straight from service? Well, this bus in specific means a lot to the group. First of all, Jamie. All three of us who founded WBP, drove at Stagecoach Wigan, however 22583 was Jamie’s bus, everyone knew it. It was out every night (much to managements annoyance) with him. He’d come in early, pick it up from the depot if it had already gone back, literally bend over backwards to make sure he drove 22583 at least once in a day, providing it wasn’t VOR obviously. Even when it was restricted to local work only, he took it all over the place. Bolton, Leigh, Manchester, staff buses, if you saw it out after 18:00, 9/10 times it was Jamie behind the wheel. This and 22521 was always Rhys and Alex’s favourites too. Whilst the MANs wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, we loved them. No other MAN would compare to 22583, and for that reason alone we set out to buy her when she was withdrawn in 2022.
Originally destined for scrap, along with the others. 22521/82/6 had a second calling. 22583 was parked on the scrap line at Wigan. However, after further inspection on 22582, it was decided that it needed far too much work, and a new engine to warrant being converted, and thus 583 moved once again. Due to the shortage of training buses in Manchester and the ongoing recruitment drive, these three were selected to be converted to be training buses, until 2025 where they were withdrawn to be replaced by Trident 2 Enviro 400s. Stagecoach has been aware of our interest in 22583 for months and finally the time has come to add her to the collection.
-
As for the plan with her, we have full intention of converting her back to a service bus. She’ll be painted into beachball and restored to as she was delivered to Wigan in 2016. She’s going to need a bit of TLC before we put her through an MOT as she’s been parked for 9 months or so. Much to our amazement, when going up and viewing her, she started on the button. We expected parts to have been removed and bits stripped but she’s good to go. We have got a plan and timescale in place and all being well, she’ll be at events soon enough!
We hope you like her, because we’re over the moon. All of our Christmases have come at once having this back, hopefully she’ll treat us as well as we’ll be treating her.
