The bridge is split into two connected side spans of 16.46 m (54 ft)(Credit: Institution of Civil Engineers)We've seen world records awarded for a caravan and a Millennium Falcon built out of Lego, but this latest construction makes them both look small fry. The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has been awarded a Guinness World Record for a Lego replica of the UK's Severn Bridge measuring 31-m (102-ft) long and 3-m (10-ft) tall.The replica was designed by bridge engineer and ICE Gold Medalist Dr Robin Sham, with input from a project design team and consultancy from WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff. It was constructed by 10 Bright Bricks Lego professionals, with the help of five bridge engineers from WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff. It took 650 person-hours to build and comprises more than 200,000 pieces. The 31-m (102 ft) length of the bridge is split into two connected side spans of 16.46 m (54 ft) and it is these spans that have set a new world record. The previous record for a single span constructed out of Lego, set in 2014, was 14 m (46 ft).
Weighing in at 0.75 tons (0.68 tonnes), the completed bridge stands freely without the use of glue or structural supports. Its cables act in tension to support both the decking and the overall structure, with the gravity anchors at each holding the structure in place. Working with Lego presented a different set of challenges than usual for the engineers. Whereas they are familiar with the properties and behaviors of steel and concrete, less is known about the properties of Lego, making it less predictable. At one point, it was found that some of the suspension cable lengths needed adjusting, for example. On another occasion, a tilt was spotted in the gravity anchors due to the strain being placed on the cables, meaning additional ballast had to be added.The aim of the Lego Bridge was to demonstrate the engineering challenge involved in building a bridge to the public. It was first constructed on September 5 in the gymnasium at Weydon School in Surrey, where the record was verified by Guinness World Records.
It has since been moved and reconstructed at One Great George Street, the home of the ICE in London's Westminster, where it is on display as part of an exhibition that celebrates some of the world's greatest bridges and the engineers who built them. "The ICE's visionary Lego Bridge project connects civil engineers with the public, demonstrating the monumental accomplishments of civil engineering," says Sham in a press release. "Using familiar Lego bricks to demystify and showcase the extraordinary feats of engineers, I hope the next generation will be inspired to consider engineering as a career."The Bridge Engineering exhibition opened on Monday and runs through until April next year. The video below provides an overview of the Lego Bridge project. Source: Institution of Civil EngineersNot counting some bizarre missteps such as the Scala, Fabuland, and Jack Stone offshoots, Lego has had a consistently excellent track record of delivering awesome, long-lasting building sets since 1949.
Lego stopped manufacturing it in 2009 and sold out of it in July 2010, meaning you'll have to pay about $4,000 to a collector to get a copy that's MISB (Mint in Sealed Box). See also: the 2008 Death Star, the second-most expensive set Lego ever offered ($399.99).Newer expensive sets include the The Disney Castle and the Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters, both $349.00. Like the Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon, this gorgeous Taj Mahal model is hard to come by mainly because it's so expensive. When Lego released it in 2008, it retailed for $299.99, which isn't that bad, really, considering it's the largest set they've ever produced at a whopping 5922 pieces (that's only 5 cents per piece). Since Lego stopped making it in 2011, it will cost you at least $2,000 to get a mint set. So Lego probably just mixed their medieval "Castle" theme and their modern "City" theme here to unload some extra unsold parts, right? How else do you explain the reasoning behind this odd set from 1980 that has axe-wielding knights parading down a very 20th-century street.
The posters on the castle say it's the "Legoland Carnival," so maybe it's a Renaissance Faire? That would explain the American stop sign. Regardless, the set looks like it would have been a blast to play with, right? Feeding your knights fish and chips after defending the book store from top hat-wearing thugs? Only 5,000 copies of this smug plutocrat were ever made, given away Willy Wonka-style in 2013 as a surprise in the tenth incarnation of Lego's Minifigures blind bags. Unlike regular minifigs made with Lego's standard acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, Mr. Gold thinks he's better than everyone else and has a chrome gold finish. Sometimes the rarity of a particular Lego set is all about the minifigs. That's the case with the elusive and now absurdly expensive 2003 Star Wars Cloud City, which features four minifigs found only in this set, including a unique printing of fan favorite Bob Fett. It's also the first time fans could get their hands on a tiny Lando Calrissian, one of the early examples of Lego making a black minifig.