Imberbus 2018
This is the second
visit to the now famous ‘Imberbus’ event by the independent transport
videos cameras. Our first visit
was in 2013 when a total of seven buses were in service, now in 2018 a total of
24 buses were operated, mostly traditional Routemasters, (RM, RML and RMC), but
five from the ‘New Routemaster’ class which included the very first, LT1 (LTZ
1001) and the very last, LT1000 (LTZ 1000).
The one and only ‘short’ ‘New Routemaster’ ST812 (LTZ 1812) was also on
hand to help move the crowds. As well as
the old and new Routemasters, Metropolitan MD60 (KJD 260P) was in service as
well as locally based First West of
England 69502 (BJ10 VGC) a Wrightbus Volvo B7RLE in the striking ‘Discover’
livery. Imberbus was formed in early
2009 when a group of industry professionals met up to discuss the possibility
of running a one day service over normally closed military roads to the ‘lost’
village of Imber on Salisbury Plain, which had last seen a bus service in
1943. Imberbus was thus born, with four
Routemasters working the first event in September 2009.
Filming for the 2018
event begins at the railway station in Warminster and then travel with a camera
in the cab of RM1978 (ALD 978B) to the village of Imber. We then travel onboard RM1654 (654 DYE) a
Routemaster with a Leyland engine to the Imber park & ride site and then
back to Warminster station to catch up on the action there. We return to Imber on board ‘New Routemaster’
LT1000, but make a stop for photographs with LT1 as we journey along the
deserted military roads. At Imber we
then travel on RMC1461 (461 CLT) a former Green Line coach to the pretty
village of Chitterne. From here we join
RML2451 (JJD 451D) for our ride to the equally pretty village of Tilshead. At both villages there is plenty of action to
see as captured by our cameraman. RM1005
(5 CLT) the Routemaster now sporting a Euro 6 engine is our next bus for a
journey back to Chitterne to change buses for a ride to the busy Gore Cross
Interchange – a revised site for this year’s event. Arrival at Gore Cross is on board RM597 (WLT
597) superbly turned out after a recent restoration programme. We get some excellent views at Gore Cross
that really show off the terrain that the buses have to travel on at this
unique event.
With filming completed
here we rejoin RM597 for a ride back to Imber village where we take a brief
look at the ‘Battle Bus – The London Bus that went to War’. B-Type bus B2737 (LH 8186) has been
transformed to look like the many hundreds of buses that went with the soldiers
to France to fight the First World War in 1914.
The final scenes are shot at Warminster station. We hope that you enjoy this programme, either
as a souvenir of the day or to give you inspiration to visit Imber next year!