London Buses-Hornchurch Leyland Titan & National's Upminster & Cranham 1988

[@MetroTitanD78]

Half the Titans in this video still exist with one guy I know owning 2 of them (T2 & T21)

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I think you'll find Mark has more than just those two, with T6 being his baby.......

[@MetroTitanD78]

@Soi Buakhao I know he has T6 as well as 22,66 and 1128 but I was only referring to what we see in your superb video.

[@londoncabby]

You are putting out some cracking videos lately! You must have a lot of material in the stash! They’re a great record of the past, not only the buses, but the cars, people, fashion, shops etc! 👏🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

There's plenty more to go yet! Plus new ones i'm still making and uploading, trying to see if there's any interest in the current scene.

[@sct353]

A big thank you for posting this. I have lived in Upminster since 1990, so a couple of years after this was filmed. Nice to see that not too much has changed. Spotted the old Upminster Post Office, Roomes pre-demolition of the old corner site (now Marks and Spencer + flats) plus that splendid shop 'Dobson and Co.'. I see that the flats opposite the station are undergoing construction - some nice large houses used to stand in that location so I have seen in old photos. Look forward to some more footage in the area - Ilford or Newbury Park perhaps?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Ilford is a possibility as is other ease end locations, keep an eye out on my uploads......

[@djpeekay25]

I used to take the 248 from Hornchurch to Roneo Corner at this time so this brings back memories! Thank you Soi

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

You're welcome.....

[@Gideonsmythe]

I was stood outside RD for a few hours that same evening. There was nearly a fight, a couple of drivers had put a photo album together and had perched it on a car bonnet while everyone had a look. The owner of the car turned up driving a Titan and started yelling and screaming a threatening to "come over there" or something. Overall a very sad evening. There's was something special about Hornchurch Garage, until the final year or so their buses were always immaculately turned out.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I was also there until about 20.00ish when i jumped on RM 1676 working on the 165s and headed off to a night shift on the Underground so missed the very end of the place. The engineering foreman there was a bus crank and T 1 was his baby. It was a showbus in 1983 and stayed that way until the end. He was even starting to make t 2 like a Routemaster, it had extra beading applied so as to put a white band around it and RM moquette on the seats. Forest District office got wind of it and put a stop to it. They eve threatened to send T 1 to Peckham or some other garage in the fleet which had an equally bad maintainence record so in the end it was never completed. A shame as it could have looked quite good!

[@timtube1663]

3.30 - on the side of the bus it says "a new Leyland Titan for London Transport" and the bus is S reg (1979)

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

That was the Hornchurch Garage showbus. The livery and wording is what it wore when delivered to London Transport in 1978. The very first early Titans were at the work by the end of 1978 and shared the streets of Romford with the few RTs that still worked the 87s until March 1979.

[@timtube1663]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus amazing to think that the Titans overlapped the RTs!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@timtube1663 Only just! But there is a photo in a book called RT by Ken Blacker and it shows an RT on the 87 (one was booked out on a Sat plus they covered for RMs as required, BK had more RTs than needed by now for the 62s) and i think T12 on a Hornchurch route (165 or 252) on the other side of the road. And those first 250 Titans were the last London buses constructed in London!

[@MetroTitanD78]

T1 The Hornchurch Ambassador

[@markcf83]

It was the closure of Hornchurch that,eventually led to Titans being introduced at Muswell Hill the following month.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Also to do with a re-organisation of the bus operating districts. The districts either operated Titans or Metros (generally) and i think MH changed districts when one was abolished and as you say there was spare Titans floating about. The RD ones went to North Street as they also ran early Titans with similar mechanicals and electrics.

[@markcf83]

They bumped up Titans to Bow and they,along with many other garages including Ash Grove and Camberwell,provided the Titans needed to send the Metrobuses to Palmers Green and Holloway for the OPO conversion of the 29/135,which also affected Chalk Farm as they lost the 24 to Grey Green.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@markcf83 Yes, there was lots going at the time. With losses on route tendering it gave London Buses lots of spare vehicles to replace Routemasters with.

[@jamesfrench7299]

Man, so many remarks, where do I start? The Titans don't look in any better condition than how I remember them on my 1999 London visit. I was surprised to see the class leader with the Leyland promo still in place. The Leyland spec taillights look way better than the BMACS on the rest. They age the design IMO. Love them on the MCWs though. The Leyland scroll badge must signify being part of the final batch(s) delivered new. They suit the front best I reckon. Nice to see the Nashos looking unmolested still in 1988, and I think they gave good service to LT because they weren't revving out so much. It seems the headless wonder is happiest putting around in traffic not being worked too hard or revving itself silly. These operated as an auto, like the Titans and RMs (and presumably DMSs)? That keeps the revs under control.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Titan 1 was the Hornchurch Garage showbus and had the lettering put back in place. Same reason why it had the original tail-lights in place. (T1 is now preserved by the London Bus Company of Northfleet and it can sometimes be seen at the Eppping-Ongar Railway) The scroll Leyland name was a later badge design, when new the earlier ones had a metal roundal front & rear with recangular LEYLAND TITAN badges also front & rear. LT's Nationals were semi auto but only partly so (1st, 2nd & auto if i remember correctly) and were normally drivern in auto mode. Very few of the MkI's were ever refurbished, it was the MkII Red Arrow fleet that really got re-built, new bodies and engines (sadly as the Leopard engine in the MkII's was great!). Anyway, happy viewing, i have more bus vids to upload with plenty of Titan's, national's & Metro's!

[@jamesfrench7299]

Oh I can't forget those heavily revised bodies!! I went on a brief ride for a couple of blocks in a ZF gearboxed one from Victoria Stn and was not impressed by the NVH! It sounded like an 0680 as the Nat 2s had, so what was it? I remember stumbling onto a depot near the river Thames at Westminster I believe and it contained all of these Nat 2 rebuilds. I really don't know why they had to alter them, they looked perfectly modern before. I now appreciate these Greenway rebuilds and I believe only one was preserved.

[@1973ts]

Love this one, Hornchurch did seem to take better care of their buses. Nice to see T1, which I think was their showbus? Thanks for sharing this, do you have any more Romford or Hornchurch bus videos?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

There will be more over time. I like to keep up a good spread of areas to keep people's interest up.

[@1973ts]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I always enjoy the videos you upload, I like the fact that I never know what is going to come along next!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@1973ts I like to keep my subscribers on their toes!!! lol......

[@MetroTitanD78]

Absolutely love this video, I was 5 in 1988 so I only really remember Ensign on the 248 but I do remember alighting from the front of a T at Harrow Lodge Park during one of the fairs.

[@danwoodhouse9290]

you claim this is the last day (which would have been a Saturday) but at 1:01 it looks like a load of city commuters coming out the station suggesting this was a weekday?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I don't have to 'claim' anything, i filmed this, i was there! For your information the London Buses working week starts on a Saturday and ends on a Friday, it did then and still does now. The engineering side starts on a Wednesday and ends on a Tuesday (why?, I haven't a clue!). The Underground works the same as BR/mainline railways, their working week starts on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday. This was filmed on a Friday evening and there are plenty of commuters about along with lots of buses for me to film. I have further footage of this evening where there are two RML's and an RM working on the 165 with an odd shot of an Ensign new build Metrobus on route training, which i will upload over time

[@danwoodhouse9290]

have you got the first day of Ensign and Frontrunner?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Sadly no. In those days i was trying to capture the transport scene that i knew, loved & grew up with. The Ensign + Frontrunner operations (and similar all over London) were part of the destruction of the old LT and i wasn't interested in it. Now of course i wish i had just filmed everything! Plus i had to go to work, and shift work at that. After i filmed buses on this evening i went for a night shift as an Underground guard! And i was filming BR trains as well as Underground ones....and accasionally i used to sleep & eat!!! lol

[@mistie710]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I lived through that nightmare with Frontrunner and their constant breakdowns and Ensigns' scruffy old Fleetlines which LT had disposed of for good reason. It put me off busses for a very long time after that.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@mistie710 Well, when Hornchurch shut & you got Frontrunner on the 248s, i recall that Ensign used new Metrobuses on the routes that they picked up. I have a shot of one route learning the night Hornchurch closed. A lot of the smaller operators used second or even third hand buses!.....

[@Adam-g6c6h]

I still live in Upminster back when the 370 wasn't a tfl service and used Atlanteans and nationals