LEV1

The LEV1 is a lightweight single-car diesel railbus built as the prototype for the planned-as-stop-gap Pacer family of trains.
In the 1970s and 1980s, British Rail decided to get rid of most of the sluggish and outdated DMU's and EMU's still working on the line, most dating back to the early 1960s and late 1950s. A good example of one of these would be the Class 415, being approximately 70 years old as of December 2021.
BR was left with two choices- the Sprinters, a family of reliable, comfortable and agile DMU's for branch line, mainline and express services. The other choice was the Pacers, a family of lightweight, low-cost stop-gap diesel railbuses for short mainline and branch line workings.
BR ended up doing both of these.
Stats:
Built: 1979-1981
Top speed: Estimated 50-75 mph
Overall age: 40 as of December 2021
Facts:
As of now, the LEV-1 cannot run under it’s own power due to having unrepairable shabby wire brakes.
The LEV-1 was the first ever train built under the Pacer family.
It was made by chopping a bus in half and placing the remains on a freight wagon chassis. A cool but stupid idea.
It is, in fact, the most important train on the Wensleydale Railway.
Originally, the LEV-1 was a capacity booster, with no engine, only cabs to control the attached unit.
Despite being so small and bouncy, the LEV-1 once reached 100 mph (161 km/h) in double format with another DMU. The passengers must have been feeling nauseous…
Category:Railbuses of the United Kingdom
Category:Railbuses
Category:4 foot 8 1⁄2 inch gauge
Category:British Rail Railbuses
Category:Railbus
Category:Experimental locomotives
Category:United Kingdom
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:British Rail locomotives
Category:Diesel locomotives