Wigan Bus Preservation Group has transformed a Volvo B10M back into Stagecoach’s Magic Bus livery, reports Maxson Goh
The Volvo B10M is perhaps one of the most celebrated buses among my generation of ‘90s kids, and a common sight when I was growing up in Singapore. There were about a thousand of them in service, with a fair few sporting the Alexander PS bodywork, though unfortunately none remain due to a statutory age limit of 20 years for commercial vehicles. Ironic since the bodywork was designed for the Singapore market… Over here in the UK, I’m honoured to be able to document the restoration process of this Alexander PS bodied example, R974 XVM. The owner of another PS once told me the ‘S’ stood for Singapore, which was news to me!
In early March 2025, I met up with Rhys Stirling and Jamie Jackson of the Wigan Bus Preservation Group, with Jamie pointing out that, while other B10Ms have worn the Magic Bus livery in the past, this one never did. Now this will undoubtedly ruffle some feathers, but I’d say worry about it when working on your own bus. “We chose the Magic Bus livery even though it never wore it, because it was a Manchester livery on the B10s, something that’s not really remembered,” said Jamie.
Rhys added: “Last year, Stagecoach’s Enviro400 19288 was painted into a Magic Bus heritage livery and it received such a good reception from the public. We then decided it was fitting to put another Magic Bus back into Manchester because apart from 19288 there aren’t any left, and the brand was such a big part of the Manchester bus scene. Magic Bus ran from 1996, when GMS took over from GM Buses, until 2025, but even before that, Stagecoach used the brand elsewhere, appearing in Glasgow from 1986, so it’s been around for nearly 40 years. I think it is a massive part of Stagecoach history that has been sort of forgotten about.
Recalling the history of their bus, Rhys continued: “This bus was new to Hyde Road in Manchester in 1997, then in 2011 it moved up to Inverness, where it became a school bus, receiving the three-by-two seating. It was a dedicated school bus for the rest of its life with Stagecoach until 2016. Then it was sold to several other operators before it went to Silver Fox, where we bought it from in November last year.”
Lots of work needed
Jamie explained: “We started working on it back in January. We’ve had about five panels replaced on it. We gave it a full sand down, did some filler on it and then we undercoated it in the blue undercoat. We then top-coated it in the blue and then recently we’ve had the vinyls remade by Rhys.”
The restoration was a race against the clock as the group had plans for the vehicle’s public debut – attending the ‘Back to the Future’ modern heritage bus event hosted by the Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester on 29 March this year. The group, which has
a relatively large social media presence, had spent the weeks prior to the event posting little snippets of information teasing the restoration process, but leaving the livery of choice a mystery all the way until the big reveal.
Catching up at the museum event post-reveal, Rhys said: “Everyone’s loved it at the museum, we’ve had a lot of nice comments about it on Facebook. We just need to get the seats sorted. That’s basically the last thing that needs doing. We are really happy with the outcome, externally anyway; it’s done, and it’s just the last finishing touches inside and then we’ll keep it on the rally scene for people to see and enjoy all over the country.” And enjoy it they shall, as museum visitors flocked around the newly restored vehicle, I had just one more question: I don’t want to cause no fuss… But can I buy your Magic Bus?
