English: Stagecoach East London bus T1 (reg. THX 401S), pictured on the A12 slip in Bow, East London. Part of the special duties fleet, it's picture here operating a special journey on London Buses route 8 along with several other preserved buses, to mark the last day of ordinary operation of the Routemaster type on the route (See the wide angle image for further details of its location and direction).

T1 was the first production example of the Leyland Titan (B15), built in 1978 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). As with the vast majority of production, it was delivered new to London Transport as part of the dual-door T-class.

Allocated to Hornchurch garage (code RD), after proving trials, T1 entered service in December 1978. In common with the first 31 London Titans, it was painted in London red, but with white window surrounds for the upper deck (later ones were painted in plain red). T1 was sent for a pilot overhaul at Aldenham Works in March 1981, but returned untouched. It became the Hornchurch garage showbus, retaining its white uppper surrounds after the others had been repainted.

As part of the London Transport Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1983, it gained the jubilee logos and was named Hornchurch Ambassador. In May 1988 it was finally painted all red, and transferred to North Street garage, Romford (code NS). Surviving into the privatised era, it passed into the fleet of Stagecoach East London in 1994.

From 2001, having been painted into its original London Transport livery as seen here, it began being used on special duties and appearing at rallies & events etc, hence its appearance here (Stagecoach operate route 8). The message on the side, "A New Leyland Titan for London Transport" refers to the fact that Leyland's front engined Titan was a mainstay of London Transport orders for many years.

The repaint into original livery was complete down to even including the garage code RD, even though it remained at North Road until 2004 when it was transferred to Waterden Road (WA), and then Rainham (RM) when that closed.

In July 2008, T1 was bought by heritage private hire operator The London Bus Company.