The Leyland Titan November 1, 2009
Posted by richard in : History , trackbackI well remember the Leyland Titan. One used to operate on the local WM Travel route, on occasion.
It stood out because, to all intents, it was a double-decker Leyland National. And thus a bit weird-looking.
My recent bus epiphany has also revealed, though, that it stood out for another reason: the very fact that it was running at all in the West Mids was a rarity. See, this Leyland project wasn’t the biggest of successes, relative to aspirations.
The so-called B15 project was revealed in the inter of 1975, as a natural extension of the rear-engined National ideal. The engine was squeezed in here because an edict of Titan was that mechanicals took second place to the driver and those who paid for it, the passengers.
Instead of using that notoriously smoky 510 National unit, it would use the good ol’ Gardner 6LXB unit. Which, it seems, is a bit of a favourite amongst bus makers of the time. A sort of omnipresent VW 2.0-litre TDI forerunner.
Like the National, there was to be just one size. 9.5m long, 2.5m wide and 4.4m tall. One or two doors were available, and access was via a low step: thanks, again, integral construction. Ooh, and Leyland also got the ergonomicists in, to design the layout for the entry and exits.
London Transport got a prototype in 1976, two years before official delivery, and ended up taking the bulk of the 1125 built between then and 1984. West Midlands Travel? Well, they had a handful on test. They even bought one or two. But soon sold them to… London Transport.
All, it seems, except the one that I used to see on occasion.
Not quite the big hit that was intended, the Titan revived a famous Leyland name, but not its immense popularity. Pity: in many ways, this highly modular production methodology really was ahead of its time. Meant nothing to WM Travel, though. There, the Metrobus was the titan of the fleet…
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