Our Lego Town

Hopefully sometime soon.

I wanted to create a new building, but didn’t really want to buy any new bricks.  Even though we have a lot of Lego around, it can be challenging to find enough pieces of a particular color or specialized bricks to make something the way I want it.  But I managed to scrounge enough from our collection to create this urban townhouse.

I created this staked bulkhead flat car by modifying the Cargo Wagon from the Lego’s Cargo Train Deluxe set. It’s not based on a real rail car, and I’m not even sure if a short bulkhead with a wood deck exists. But I went with these choices based on my available stock and for some variation in my train (and it’s a Lego town after all, so I can take some leeway). Perhaps I’ll make a full length version down the road.

An original side by side retail building with an auto parts shop and hardware store on the north end of town.

These Ferraris are just ‘out of the box’ Lego kits I’ve collected over the past few years, but I thought they looked cool all together in a row. I am more fond of vintage American cars like my (real) ’67 Galaxie 500, but until Lego starts making American car kits (or I get into creating custom Lego cars instead of buildings and trains), these will have to do.

Here are some pictures of the whole town.

A rail car I created based on some model railroad images I found online. It is a simple design, and, again, I’m not sure how accurate the numbers and letters are, but I think overall it is effective.

Source pictures:

This is an intermodal rail car with the Canadian National logo I created. The placement of decals is not entirely accurate but I think comes across well. I’ve also decided to make train cars six studs wide like the Lego sets for compatibility and practicality, even though the scale of cars and containers is not as accurate.

Some photos of model rail cars I used as sources (in addition to some other Lego rail cars I found online):

Here are some final pictures of a building a created based on a photo from New York’s Soho area. It is not completely modular, but the top three floors are removable to access the first level. Click the images to enlarge.

Here is a new building I’m working on. I designed it based on a picture of a building in Soho, NY. A gallery or retail space on the first floor, and offices/lofts/studios above.  It will be topped by a detailed cornice similar to that of the first level, but larger and with more ornamentation.