English: Preserved Midland Classic bus 74 (reg. WDA 4T), a 1979 Leyland Titan (B15), pictured at the Wythall Transport Museum in Wythall, Worcestershire. The 28th production Titan, it was part of the early batch built by the British Leyland subsidiary Park Royal Vehicles in Park Royal, London (later ones were built at Leyland's expanded factory in the Lillyhall Industrial Estate, Workington). It's one of the very few Titans that were not built for London Transport as part of their dual door T-class, instead being delivered new to the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, the local authority operator covering the West Midlands conurbation. WMPTE took it as part of a batch of 5, (reg. WDA 1/2/3/4/5T), and numbered them in the series 7001-5. Unlike the London buses, it had a single door layout giving 47 seats upstairs, 26 down, and used a smaller destination blind box (the intended standard size being visible in the bodywork's otherwise standard panelling). It also used four vertical blinds for the route numbers, on the front, side and rear, instead of the London designed blinds. The staircase was also further forward, meaning they didn't have the small window on the lower deck over the driver's side wheel arch. While at WMPTE, 7004 wore at least two versions of their blue and cream livery, having been repainted at Walsall works in 1982. The buses had been purchased as a trial batch, but WMPTE didn't follow it up with any other orders, so withdrew them in 1983 presumably as non-standard, selling them to London Transport in May 1984. They entered Aldenham Works and emerged repainted into London red with white roundels and black front bumpers, still with their 4 number blinds but having lost their 'dustbin lid' Leyland 'L' badge on the grilles. By that time new Titan deliveries to London had ended, with T1125 (reg. B125 WUV) being the last in the T-class, and so the former WMPTE buses were numbered in sequence as T1126 - T1130 (one last Titan, the former prototype B15.05, was also bought second hand in 1987 from Fishwick's, taking the class up to T1131). They entered LT service in the training fleet as type trainers, but this didn't last long - before the year was out the whole batch had been sent to Chiswick Works to join the experimental fleet. With the advent of de-regulation, in April 1985 they were sent back to Aldenham and converted to coaches with 43/29 coach seating for use in the Selkent Travel fleet, receiving their livery of red with large white band, and large blue Selkent Travel fleetnames. There they were used on express services and excursions/private hire work. Before the advent of full privatisation in 1994 the batch had started to go their separate ways. T1129 was transferred within London Buses to the London Central division in 1987, who removed the Selkent Travel fleetnames but not the white background, and applied the post-dereguluation white/red/orange London Buses roundel on the side and 'London Central' device on the front. After a trip back to Chiswick it lost its four way number blinds, and gained the larger standard LT front route box, filling the whole of the intended panel space. It also lost its upper deck front window openings. T1129 remained on excursion/private hire work into full privatisation, passing into the ownership of London Central. Of the other ex-WMPTE buses, 3 just remaining with Selkent Travel (T1130, T1127 & T1126) into full privatisation, while T1128 had ended up with East London Coaches. At privatised London Central, T1129 was operated in at least two private hire variations of the post-privatisation bus livery of overall red with grey skirt - one with a yellow cantrail line and standard fleetnames, another with white cantrail and large, high level logo and London Central Travel fleetnames. By March 2002 it was sold to Skylark Travel, who intitially operated it in the former London Central livery with just a small 'Skylark' name on the front, and later in their livery of orange skirt, white lower deck window surrounds and midriff, and green upper deck window surrounds and roof. By the summer of 2006 it had entered the fleet of specialist heritage bus operator Midland Classic, who intitially operated it in the Skylark livery, before repainting it in their red & yellow livery as seen here, re-numbered 74. It was withdrawn by Midland Classic in 2009 and passed into full preservation, based at the Wythall Transport Museum, where it is undergoing a restoration to its original WMPTE condition, reverting subsequent changes. It's seen here for example with its original Leyland L badge reinstated. It made its first passenger trip in preservation on 9 October 2011, still in Midland Classic livery.