A newly re-roofed extra-long Routemaster was the best-kept surprise at this year’s ninth operating day on Salisbury Plain, the biggest and most successful so far
This year’s Imberbus, the ninth annual operation of Routemasters and related London buses on scheduled services over normally inaccessible parts of Salisbury Plain, was the most successful so far.
Up to 2,000 passengers — including two coach parties and a party on a chartered excursion train — travelled on registered service 23A between Warminster, the abandoned village of Imber and assorted destinations deeper into the plain on bank holiday Saturday 26 August.
Their fares helped raise over £13,000 for the Royal British Legion and St Giles Church, Imber in the Wiltshire village evacuated in 1943 when the military commandeered the area for training, which continues today. In addition, Chitterne Village Hall and Market Lavington Museum also raised significant sums from visitors arriving on the buses.
Senior public transport industry managers, especially from London, help organise Imberbus, which runs by special permission of the Ministry of Defence. Route 23A is registered by the Bath Bus Company, whose managing director, Martin Curtis, says a r…
