Product Description

A comprehensive and fully illustrated tribute to the classic London double-deck bus that saw service for many years on bus routes in and around the capital.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168484 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

Synopsis
The Leyland Titan was the last double-deck bus to have at least some hand in its design by the old London Transport. Suffering in the early 1970s from the reliability problems of the DMS class of Daimler Fleetline, and no longer able to design and build its own buses, London Transport resolved not to be caught out twice. Thus was developed the Leyland Titan, an attractive, amenable and reliable second-generation OPO bus that entered revenue-earning service on 4 December 1978. With 1,125 bought new and six acquired second-hand, the T class went on to complete nearly 25 years on the London frontline.Although its technological sophistication, combined with industrial problems afflicting Leyland at the time, put off buyers outside the capital, the privatised descendants of these same concerns would snap up second-hand Titans when the tendering losses incurred by London Buses Ltd caused examples to flood onto the open market, in some cases after less than ten years of service. Many of them would go straight back into service on London routes!

The T class saw London through the uncertain period of division and privatisation, and in the hands of three successor companies to London Buses Ltd continued to provide stalwart service until 19 June 2003, when T1018 operated on a stage service for the last time.With all remaining examples, including those latterly used on schools and private-hire work, now gone from frontline service, the future careers of the London Transport Titans have been no less fascinating, with buses seeing use by operators large and small the length and breadth of the country. In "The London Titan", Matthew Wharmby explores in detail the complete history of the last of the bespoke London Transport buses. Illustrated throughout with over 300 colour and black and white photographs, this book will appeal to the many bus enthusiasts around the country.

Customer Reviews

LONDON'S STANDARD BUS FOR THE EARLY 1980'S.
The Titan or the B-21 as it was known internally in Leyland bus which replaced the old B-20 Atlantean in 1979. It was designed for London as was the B-20 thus it featured the barrel windscreen. Other features were the AFC machine and the seat types only used in London. The all new Titan was a remarkable leap in design over the old unreliable Atlantean. It featured a new cooling system which sat above the engine within the rear bay. And took heated engine gases and converted them within the series of pipes and radiators. However in practice this wasn't adequate and lead to the buses overheating in service. Another first was the use of phenmatic suspension which gave the bus a much softer ride. The interiors had bright yellow and green facings rather than the drab aluminium of the old B-20 's. It was modern for it's time but LT had not been supplied all there order as Leyland had design and build problems. So needing new fleets LT turned to the ill fated MCW Metropolitain's which gave even worse performance. However the Bus still played a major part in the London fleets and only got phased out in the mid 1990's. I have many fond and not so fond memories of this great bus from going to work in my first job during 1986, To shopping trips. This book is a great insight into this classic and is well worth a purchase. The Routemaster has taken the limelight for too long and it's about time the Titan made the news. The book covers the inception of the bus packed with some 300 photo's both colour and black & white. Then to the buses demise as it was replaced by the newer larger buses with LT and beyond. This is a good buy but it is let down by some rather dull technical data and hard to read Titan route allocations over long paragraphs. This book is directed more at the die hard bus data collector than a casual reader. The photo's are very good and cover the bus while working and during overhauls.