After more than two decades in service since the turn of the century, Stagecoach Manchester’s 612 is finally back in its original iconic stripes. We bring you behind the scenes of the restoration process!
0:00 Introduction
0:39 Hyde Road Depot
2:26 Sanded Down
3:34 White Base Coat
4:44 The Stripes are on!
5:41 Welcome Home
6:15 Official Launch Ceremony
7:42 First Ride Out
When the term “Classic Bus” is mentioned, a front engine half cab with an open rear platform probably comes to mind. It will perhaps come as a shock, especially to those in their 20s, that low floor wheelchair accessible buses are joining the ever-growing ranks of preserved buses. Welcome to the modern era of preservation… yes, you’re getting old!
One of these buses is Stagecoach Manchester’s 1999 Dennis Trident ALX400, registered as T612 MNF and numbered 612 then subsequently 17612. It was donated to the Museum in early 2021 after being withdrawn from revenue service, with a short stint as a training vehicle in between. Its addition serves as the museum’s representation of the modern low floor era of buses.
612 holds a special place in Greater Manchester’s transport history, being the first Stagecoach low-floor double-decker bus to commence service outside of London. It was even temporarily exhibited at the museum in 1999 prior to entering service. It was always a vison to restore the bus to its original eye-catching blue, red and orange stripes livery, so recently work commenced in collaboration with Stagecoach Manchester to make this vision a reality, with Paul Nicholson and Adam Stephenson from the museum overseeing the project.
Adam said: “It’s adding something to the museum that’s well within the memories of the younger generation”.
This would be especially true for those in their 20s, as Tridents have been one of the most common buses in service. Over 3800 examples were produced between 1997 to 2006, with the newest ones presently nearing the end of their working lives. For the enthusiast going to and from school, it is inevitable that some memories would have been made on these common buses.
Adam continued: “Sourcing the seats was the hardest part of the restoration, because the original moquette that was used is very hard to find. We were lucky to find someone through Facebook who let us have a full set.
“There is also quite a lot of research that goes into vinyls. For things like the MegaRider sticker, we needed to find the correct colours to produce the transfers out of, scanning them in and tracing them out in Adobe Illustrator.”
Thankfully, some things could be sorted out with minimal difficulty. As luck would have it, after the newer Stagecoach beachball livery had been sanded down, there were still faint outlines of the original stripes underneath. This meant that the paint team could accomplish a near spot on restoration of the iconic stripes.
Some features on 612 like the green flip dot route display show us how far we have come. Sandwiched between traditional hand operated roll blinds and modern LED displays, the flip dot display represents a very early era of digital route displays.
Other aspects such as the wheelchair accessibility system have also improved and evolved in the two decades since the bus was new. In most modern buses today, the wheelchair ramp is integrated into the floor beneath the door. On 612, the ramp is stowed in a box above the front wheel arch. On the flipside, it also shows the progress made between the early half cab buses and early low floor buses.
Adam said: “It’s more like driving a car when compared to the museum’s older buses. Everything, like the steering, brakes and accelerator is much easier to live with.
“I felt very pleased to see 612 back at the museum. It was lovely to see what had been achieved! Everyone at Stagecoach who worked on it did a fantastic job, and it was very kind of them to allocate those resources to finish the job so quickly, so we can have it on the heritage services as soon as possible. The most satisfying part of the restoration is seeing how people appreciate what’s been done and bringing back memories.”
Buses like this hold treasure troves of memories crafted from decades of road use and service to the community. Every engine note, beep, and clank these behemoths produce evokes visceral, integral emotions, and you cannot deny that these preserved marvels are what shaped public transport into what it is today. 612 will enjoy a well-deserved rest in the Museum of Transport, telling its stories for decades to come.
Special thanks to the Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester as well as Stagecoach Manchester for making this video possible!
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All footage filmed and edited by Maxson Goh aka glitchFan2428
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