Following the success of the main Winchester Buses Running Day on 1 May, the Friends of King Alfred Buses (FoKAB) confirms its plans for the services it will operate on Saturday 9 September 2017 as part of the Winchester Heritage Open Days weekend.
This will be essentially a Twilight Running Day, involving about four King Alfred buses. Most journeys will start from Winchester Broadway between 1600-2100hrs covering many of the traditional King Alfred routes, and giving a rare and atmospheric opportunity to travel on them into the hours of darkness.
As an additional feature, there will be a full-length journey over the old King Alfred Service 11 route, leaving Winchester for Basingstoke at 12:45 and arriving back in Winchester about three hours later.
This year is the 50th anniversary of King Alfred Motor Services’ introduction of Leyland Atlantean double-deckers into Winchester, the first time the now-commonplace rear-engined, front entrance type of bus had been regularly used in the city.
There are two of the original vehicles in FoKAB’s collection and it plans to feature at least one of them on this day to mark the occasion.
A full timetable will be available in late August 2017.
David Morgan
Friends of King Alfred Buses
Surrey