Leyland Titan (front-engined double-decker)

The Leyland Titan was a forward-control chassis with a front-mounted engine designed to carry double-decker bus bodywork. It was built mainly for the UK market between 1927 and 1942, and between 1945 and 1969.

The type was widely used in the United Kingdom and it was also successful in export markets, with numerous examples shipped to Australia, Ireland, India, Spain, South Africa and many other countries. From 1946 specific export models were introduced, although all Titans were right-hand drive regardless of the rule of the road in customer countries.

After Leyland ended the production of the Leyland Titan in UK, Ashok Leyland of India took up production and marketed the bus in South Asia as the Ashok Leyland Titan, which, in much developed form, is still in production.

Origin

Leyland Titan

Leyland Titan is a brand name used by British Leyland on two occasions. It could refer to:

Leyland Titan (B15)

The Leyland Titan was a double-decker bus manufactured by Leyland between 1977 and 1984, primarily for London Transport.

Development

The Titan was conceived in 1973 as project B15 and was intended as a replacement for the Bristol VRT, Daimler Fleetline and Leyland Atlantean. Following the success of the single-deck Leyland National, it was decided, from the outset, that the vehicle would be very standardised and of integral construction. This allowed more flexibility in the location of mechanical components and allowed a reduced step-height. The move away from body-on-chassis construction caused concern for the bodybuilders, who had already lost market share to the Leyland National. Talks regarding licensing agreements were held with Alexander and Northern Counties, both major suppliers to their respective local markets, but no agreements were reached.

Leyland saw London Transport (LT) as a major market, so the specification was heavily influenced by their preferences. LT was suffering problems with its Daimler/Leyland Fleetline one-man-operated double-deckers and wanted more input into the design. Leyland, too wanted to gain more operator input than had been the case with the Leyland National.