I thought I’d upload a model for everyone to be mesmerized by.
Its LEV 3 – well a hybrid of LEV 2 and LEV 3. I’m not 100% sure on its history so I can’t write up an entire history of it, but I do know that it started life at Wokington, bodied using Leyland National 2 bus parts, mounted on a frame, sent to Derby for trials, then ended up in service on various branch lines around the country. As a research vehicle, this is one of the very few that carried passengers for evaluation and trials. There are plenty of photos of it online where it was in service on the Severn Beach Line which is between Bristol and Severn Beach. (Also passes near a landmark between St Andrews Road and Severn Beach, that being the Prince of Wales Bridge or the Second Severn Crossing).
Sometime afterwards, it was sold to Northern Ireland Railways to work on the Coleraine to Portrush branch, having a reputation of finding “the very end of the line”. Trials then concluded and then sold onto the Downpatrick & County Down Railway in Northern Ireland where it resides to this day.
LEV2 however, has had a much rather less fortunate history, built as a demonstrator for the USA, it reportedly ended up in service with Amtrak who later found it a liability as it was too light to operate some level crossings, also known for its reliability issues. It got sold onto Cheat River Railroad, who operated it for some time before selling it onto Connecticut Trolley museum -during this time, there was an active effort to bring LEV2 back home, sadly, it was reported that the new owners were not as cooperative as the UK based groups had hoped and was listed as “scrapped” in August 2021.