Prepared on Notepad by Ian Smith,
This page created 2nd January 1999, updated 19th October 2005.
This page created 2nd January 1999, updated 19th October 2005.
The Titan was supposed to be Leyland's double-deck equivalent to the National:
a nationwide successor to the Atlantean.
Aware of the importance of the London Transport market,
Leyland consulted closely with LT to produce a bus that would stand up to the
conditions met in London (to avoid a follow-on of the Fleetline story).
On the customer's side, London Transport still had a large number of crewed buses to replace,
- and a large number of unsatisfactory Fleetlines)
In the event this produced a technically advanced bus that most provincial
operators considered too sophisticated - likely to be too difficult to maintain
in small workshops.
Instead of a Fleetline repeat, it was more like the Routemaster story.
(And in time, of course, those operators dealt quite happily with secondhand examples
after London had passed them on.)
There were several service prototypes of the new bus - at this stage called the B15.
Prototype 04 (NHG 732P) was to the London Transport specification,
and started trials at Chalk Farm (CF) on routes 24 and 3, from May 1976.
It was followed by prototype 05 (BCK 706R) on the same routes from early 1978.
A quick decision was made to order 50 as a starter order, for delivery in 1978.
But no one who has ridden in, or been behind a Titan has any doubt
that there is something different about it.
The offset rear window gives it instant distinction!
In accordance with the thinking of the seventies it has separate entrances and exits,
with a rear-facing staircase coming down to the centre exit.
T1-T250 were the first order, and were built at Park Royal during 1978-79.
Leyland was unhappy about the Park Royal plant,
which was suffering from high costs and low productivity.
The Titans dribbled off the production line.
Consequently Leyland announced that it was closing the plant in November 1979.
It seemed that London might have to forego the bus it had helped design,
after just 250.
Leyland considered using the ECW plant to make them,
but instead built a new production line for it at Lillyhall,
on a guarantee that London would buy enough to make it worthwhile.
Production recommenced in 1981.
In the meantime Leyland had lost the expected massive Titan orders from the rest of the UK:
Manchester, West Yorkshire, Scottish Bus Group, the National Bus Company...
London Transport was left as almost the only customer for Leyland's superbus.
T251-253 were built from Park Royal parts as a pre-production run at Workington, while T254-263 were built with mix of PRV and Leyland parts. T257 was used as test-bed for Clayton Dewandre brakes, and T261 was delivered with a turbocharged Leyland TL11 engine, for comparative tests.
These later buses were kept separate from the earlier batches
as they had Clayton-Dewandre brakes, similar to those on the Metrobuses.
The last were delivered in 1984,
after LT had placed its whole order for double-deckers with MCW that year.
(Leyland had previusly threatened to shut the plant unless LT did the same for them
the year before).
Leyland closed the production line in 1984,
making LT dependent on MCW Metobuses for new orders
until the next generation - of Metrobus Mk2s, Olympians, Dominators and Ailsa had been assessed.
These five were built in 1978-9 for West Midlands PTE as a test batch.
They had a front entrance and front staircase, seating 73 (H47/26F)
They were withdrawn by WMPTE in 1983, and bought by LT in May 1984.
Initially they were allocated to Turnham Green (V),
then went to Aldenham for a repaint into red.
They then went to the Chiswick Experimental Shop,
before going to Forest District for MOT preparation.
They were licensed in early 1985 as type trainers,
but this duty did not last long.
In April 1985 they were fitted with mainly coach seating,
although retaining the 5-wide bench seat upstairs and some of the lower deck bus seating.
(CH43/29F)
They were painted with a broad white band between the decks,
and branded for Selkent Travel.
They were used on the 177 Express and hire duties from August 1985.
It was December 1978 when the first few Titans - now class T - started to arrive.
They went to Hornchurch (RD), where they began a complete replacement of the DMS class
on routes 165, 246 and 252. Deliveries were slow,
and the conversion was not completed until October 1979.
This pattern, of gradual changeover of a whole garage,
was one that was to be repeated at other garages in the east end of the LT area.
Meanwhile the last RT route converted to RM operation at Barking, in 1979, and the DMS class was being replaced wholesale, by new Metrobuses, Nationals and even Routemasters. Towards the end of 1979, in November, the conversion of the other Romford garage, North Street (NS) from DMS to Titan began, covering routes 66, 66B, 103, 139, 175 (Sunday only), 247A and 294. This took until July 1980 to complete.
Continuing the East end theme, Barking garage's Routemasters were displaced early in 1980. Route 62, last outpost of the RT, was converted in mid January after using Routemasters only from April 1979. It was followed in February by route 87. They ran as crewed buses at first, until agreement was reached for their opo.
At about this time the "flip-flap" made its appearance on the Titans (and other buses). This was a flap on the front that could be flipped to indicate "Pay Driver" or "Pay Conductor", as appropriate. Another flap was located on the door to the driver's compartment.
Barking's omo routes were converted from DMS to T in June and July 1980. The routes were 23 (Suns), 145, 148, 156, 169, 179, 199 and N95 (crew).
In March 1981 new Titans started to replace RMs on the North Street (NS) routes 174 and 175, in crew operated format, the changeover taking until October 81 to complete.
April 1981 saw Upton Park (U) operating its first Titans, starting the conversions of DMS routes 23, 147, 162 and 238 that would continue into the following year. Upton Park also gained a Sunday allocation on route 5, using DMSs and Titans
Walthamstow (WW), having just got used to Fleetlines, started to operate new Titans from September 1981, on routes 34, 97, 97A, 123, 144, 158, 212, 275 and 276. These conversions also lapped over into 1982.
Photos by Ian Smith. Click for larger versions.
T112 and T113 were overhauled in 1983,
and were painted in a mainly white livery for the 177 Express service to and from Thamesmead.
They were renumbered TE112 and TE113.
They were used less for this exclusive role after the arrival of the coach-seated
ex-West Midlands Titans, and could then be seen on other Thames-side services.
T169 was at Preston for development work 1983-4, then was overhauled in 1985 and resumed service.
T66 emerged from overhaul in 1983 wearing beautifully finished General livery and fleetnames, for the LT50 celebrations. It also wore the name "Aldenham Diplomat".
T547 was delivered wearing a square rear registration plate, for some reason!
T747 was delivered in gold livery for LT50 in April 1983, numbered T1983. It went to Camberwell (Q) for the 188. It was transferred in June to Round London Sightseeing Tours. In the autumn of 1983 it was transferred to Catford (TL) for general use, and was repainted into standardd livery in August 1984.
The last new Titan allocated for service was T1096 in November 1984, to Bromley. (It was delayed, so arrived after the last numerically, T1125.)
A second-hand one arrived later, bought from Fishwicks of Leyland: T1131 was no stranger to London, having been prototype 05, trialled in London back in 1978.
Part 2: Nationalisation, Privatisation, Dispersal.
For a MUCH more thorough history of the Titans
see the article by Matt Wharmby in The London Bus Magazine, Vol 115, Spring 2001.
Bus Stop
Part 1.
Part 2.
bus histories.
photo refs.