Double-decker London Food Truck bus
The Leyland Titan is a rear-engined double-decker bus manufactured by Leyland between 1977 and 1984, primarily for London Transport.
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-decker 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-person-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.
Five prototypes (B15.01-B15.05) were constructed between 1975 and 1977, two of which were evaluated in London.
The Titan was 9.56 metres (31.4 ft) long, 2.50 metres (8 ft 2 in) wide and 4.4 metres (14 ft) high. The main body structure was aluminium and the body was assembled using Avdel ‘Avdelok’ rivets similar to the Leyland National.
