Leyland consulted closely with London Transport to produce a bus that would stand up to the conditions of London. There were several prototypes of the Leyland Titan - at this stage called the B15. Prototype 04 was to the London Transport specification, and started trials at Chalk Farm from May 1976. As the buses proved to be successful, a decision was made to order 50 as a starter order, for delivery in 1978. A further 200 were ordered by London Transport. They were built at the Park Royal plant. Leyland closed the Park Royal assembly line due to high costs and low productivity in 1979 before all 250 were built. The Titans dribbled off the production line. Leyland built a new production line for the Titan at Lillyhall, on a guarantee that London Transport would buy enough to make it worthwhile. Production recommenced in 1981. London Transport was left as basically the only customer after Leyland lost Titan orders from the rest of the UK: Manchester, West Yorkshire, Scottish Bus Group, the National Bus Company due to production difficulties.
The first 31 (T1-T31) delivered were paint red with white window frames on the upper deck. All others were paint red only.
On the road, the Leyland Titan will reach 48 kph (30 mph) in 25 seconds when loaded to 16.25 tonne (16 ton) gross with a full capacity of passengers. Maximum speed varies between 64 kph (40 mph) and 96 kph (60 mph) depending on the transmission ratio.
T1, the first Titan delivered to London Transport was overhauled in March 1981. It became the London Transport showbus, retaining its white window surrounds upstairs. For the 1983 London Transport 50th celebrations it was decorated with the London Transport Golden Jubilee symbols on each side.
London Transport retired it’s Leyland Titans in June 2003 25 years after it took delivery of T1. Many smaller bus companies are still using ex London Transport Leyland Titans throughout UK.