Heading Home to Wales - 4
In Spring 2009, Stagecoach in South Wales received 17 12.8m Alexander Dennis Enviro300-bodied MAN 18.240s primarily to upgrade Brynmawr depot's marathon Service X4 (Hereford-Abergavenny-Brynmawr-Ebbw Vale-Tredegar-Merthyr Tydfil-Pontypridd-Cardiff).
Their fortunes proved to be mixed - 22795 was burnt out in 2013 after transfer to Cwmbran depot, 22779/83/4/6-8/90/2-4 moved on to the North Scotland fleet in 2015, where 22788 and 22793 was burnt out, and 22782 and 22789 left for the East Midland fleet in early 2016.
The remaining four - 22780, 22781, 22785 and 22791 - stayed in South Wales and were fitted with more reliable Cummins units in 2015. Merthyr Tydfil depot and its Brecon outstation then became their homes and they were usually based at Brecon for what was then Services 39/39B (Hereford-Hay-on-Wye-Talgarth-Brecon). This was subsequently absorbed into the TrawsCymru network as Service T14 and extended south to Cardiff via Merthyr Tydfil and Pontypridd.
My photograph dates from December 2018 and shows 22781 leaving Hereford Railway Station when operating Service T14 on what would be over a three and a half hour run to Cardiff. The four survivors remained at Merthyr Tydfil depot (and Brecon outstation) until replaced by a batch of 12 MCV eVoRa-bodied Volvo B8RLEs in Summer 2019, and were then dispatched to the North Scotland fleet.
As at December 2025, only two of the 17 MANs remain in service - Cummins-engined 22781 in the East fleet based at Northampton depot and MAN-engined 22789 in the West Scotland fleet allocated to Carlisle depot.
Heading Home to Wales - 4
In Spring 2009, Stagecoach in South Wales received 17 12.8m Alexander Dennis Enviro300-bodied MAN 18.240s primarily to upgrade Brynmawr depot's marathon Service X4 (Hereford-Abergavenny-Brynmawr-Ebbw Vale-Tredegar-Merthyr Tydfil-Pontypridd-Cardiff).
Their fortunes proved to be mixed - 22795 was burnt out in 2013 after transfer to Cwmbran depot, 22779/83/4/6-8/90/2-4 moved on to the North Scotland fleet in 2015, where 22788 and 22793 was burnt out, and 22782 and 22789 left for the East Midland fleet in early 2016.
The remaining four - 22780, 22781, 22785 and 22791 - stayed in South Wales and were fitted with more reliable Cummins units in 2015. Merthyr Tydfil depot and its Brecon outstation then became their homes and they were usually based at Brecon for what was then Services 39/39B (Hereford-Hay-on-Wye-Talgarth-Brecon). This was subsequently absorbed into the TrawsCymru network as Service T14 and extended south to Cardiff via Merthyr Tydfil and Pontypridd.
My photograph dates from December 2018 and shows 22781 leaving Hereford Railway Station when operating Service T14 on what would be over a three and a half hour run to Cardiff. The four survivors remained at Merthyr Tydfil depot (and Brecon outstation) until replaced by a batch of 12 MCV eVoRa-bodied Volvo B8RLEs in Summer 2019, and were then dispatched to the North Scotland fleet.
As at December 2025, only two of the 17 MANs remain in service - Cummins-engined 22781 in the East fleet based at Northampton depot and MAN-engined 22789 in the West Scotland fleet allocated to Carlisle depot.