One of only four surviving 'B' type Battlebuses is being transformed this week from its traditional red livery to a wartime appearance instead. When complete, it will drive from London down to Folkestone and then go over to France, re-tracing a route it would have taken driving troops to the front-line in World War I. The Battlebus plans to then visit the towns of Poperine, Ypres and Albert, which all saw battles between 1914-1918.
London's buses played a key role in supporting Britain during the war, with more than 1,000 vehicles commandeered for service on the front lines. They would take fresh troops out and return with the sick and wounded, or men leaving the trenches for rest periods — although one entry in a driver's log book states "returned empty".
See the Battlebus all this week at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden piazza until Friday and then at the Acton Depot open weekend this Saturday and Sunday.
