London's Titans

The Titan was an integral double-decker bus built by Leyland Motors, becoming the standard double-decker produced by the company in the 1980s. The type was not as popular as its main competitor, the MCW Metrobus. As with this latter model, London Transport was Leyland’s best customer for the Titan. Leyland built one of the prototype Titans to London specification and it was used on trials from Chalk Farm garage in May 1976. The first six entered service with London Transport from Hornchurch garage in December 1978. The first 250 were built at the former AEC facility in Southall. Production then moved north to Leyland’s own factory in Workington. The last members of the fleet were delivered to London Transport in 1984, with 1,125 being built new for London. These were joined by five additional Titans from West Midlands PTE in 1984, as well as a former demonstrator, bringing the total to 1,131. At the time of privatisation, Titans passed to six of the new London operators. A number of Titans went to London Pride and the Big Bus Company for further use as tour buses. David Beddall documents the Titan in London, both in normal passenger service and as a tour bus, through a diverse selection of high-quality images.