Annual Lego Train Club show draws thousands to Cantigny Video: Lego train Christmas Show Walk around the Lego Train Show at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, and several things immediately grab your eye. First, there's a lot of people -- maybe as many as 10,000 -- who will crowd into the Visitors Center for the show's two-day run that ends Sunday. Second, you can't believe all of the incredible things members of the Northern Illinois Lego Train Club can make out of tiny plastic pieces designed for kids to play with. Scenes from movies and books. And, of course, plenty of trains. But here's the coolest part: No matter how old you are, it's the perfect place to play a game of I-Spy. You know: I-Spy a crash involving Lego trucks from Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts. I-Spy Batman on top of a building. I-Spy a melting snowman. I-Spy a bunch of Star Wars storm troopers heading through a park. And no matter how many times you've visited the show -- and this is its 10th incarnation at Cantigny -- there's always something new to spy.
This year, for example, the Lego wizards have built a replica of the clock tower from "Back to the Future." Look closely and there's one other thing you'll notice this weekend at Cantigny: the wide-eyed expression on the faces of the kids as they marvel at the intricate Lego creations. It's a pretty safe bet you'll be a little wide-eyed, too. Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the X in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ. Suburban Chicago's Got Talent Short & Sweet Theater Reviews Cook of the Week Challenge Letters to the Editor Find archived newspaper articles back to 1901. Purchase a Digital Subscription Start a New SubscriptionBoth my father and my grandfather were train drivers, so you could say trains are in my blood.
When I saw this incredibly accurate classic steam engine by Britishbricks, I just had to share it. In Great Western Railway dark green, this beauty is very reminiscent of the classic British engines from the 1950s and 60s. There are so many things to enjoy about this beauty: check out the tip of the pirate hook and black sausage front buffer, along with the LEGO rubber bands as ribs around the boiler. From the working wheel assembly and Power Functions all the way to the tail of the coal tender, this spectacular replica has steamed its way into my heart. Christmas is coming soon! It’s time to set up your decorations, and if you’re like me, that includes your LEGO Holiday Village. This year, LEGO sent us a copy of 10254 Winter Holiday Train, available now. This great addition to your Holiday Village retails for $99.99 USD, and has 734 pieces. Click here to read more about the Holiday Train! Polish builder Maciej Drwięga has spent more than 3 years meticulously planning and building this mind-blowing railway diorama.
This is one of those LEGO masterpieces which, once noticed, will make you fill a cup with your favorite drink, lean forward, and spend a good half-hour eyeing every little detail. The highlight of the scene for me is an unremarkable but appealing model of an ST43 locomotive. I love that Maciej has put no logos or symbols on it. The result is a nifty train, featuring a winning combination of sand green, dark green, and yellow. However, it’s not just the trains and track that make the diorama, but also the surroundings. A couple of platforms, the train station building, goods storage with ramp, diesel fueling facility, a workshop, an engine shed — you name it, it’s there. Some stunning retro trucks? Truly magical things happen when night falls on the town. The longer you look at these pictures, the more clearly you can hear night shift staff servicing locomotives in the engine shed. And, of course, go and check the builder’s full album featuring more than a hundred pictures!
Every year LEGO releases a large holiday exclusive set, and this year you can prepare to ride the rails with 10254 Winter Holiday Train. Although last year’s holiday exclusive, 10249 Winter Toy Shop, was a rerelease of a previous year’s winter village set, this year’s Winter Holiday Train is definitely a completely new set from the 2006 Holiday Train set. The train has 734 pieces, and will retail for $99.99 USD when it goes on sale Oct. 1. Let us know in the comments what you think! Check out the full press release and details below. Click to read the press release and see more images For the first time, a locomotive graces our monthly cover photo in the form of this fine SBB CE 6/8 Electric (aka “Swiss Crocodile”) by Vedosololego. Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then acquaint yourself with the submission GUIDELINES and submit your photo today. Keep up with the Brothers Brick by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter or Pinterest.
And for occasional extra goodies, follow us on Flickr or subscribe to us on YouTube. After building two huge 1/16 Diesel locomotives, one of which we blogged in February, Dennis Glaasker (Bricksonwheels) has turned his attention to something rather more old-school: a Union Pacific 1941 `Big Boy’ steam engine. Its scale is 1/38, based on LEGO’s track gauge. This is relatively small by Dennis’ standards, but the model is still more than 1 m long and took two and half months to build. The engine can run, albeit not on standard radius curves, and to get it to run, Dennis chose to include several custom and aftermarket parts. The wheels and the valve gear and side rods were 3D printed by Jaap Kroon (JaapTechnic). The model is driven by three (!) Power Functions XL motors, controlled through an SBrick and powered by a rechargeable RC battery pack. To top it all off, this behemoth is equipped with lights and electronics supplied by Brickstuff. Purists may be horrified by this cornucopia of high-tech non-LEGO parts, but I think it’s hard to deny that the end result is impressive.
This elegant train, brought to us by Moko, is comprised of beautiful lines, delightful colors, and screams Steampunk. Or rather, given the refined nature of the train, perhaps it quietly states its Steampunk origins while giving a bit of side-eye out of a monocle. Either way, it’s gorgeous. I particularly like the use of the One Ring to give nice color to the passenger car, between the windows, as well as on the engine. The gold, green, brown, and brass are a stunning color combination which make this train particularly eye catching. I also invite you to read our original write-up of Moko’s matching Steampunk car and mech. It’s wonderful to finally have a family portrait! There’s a real art in depicting decay and dilapidation in LEGO. The solid colors and straight lines of our favourite construction system tend not to lend themselves well to such subjects. But Maciej Drwiega has nailed it with this rusting rail truck. Smart color combinations and a clever sideways construction technique have created a convincing impression of battered and bruised metal.
Whilst I’m not really a train guy, I’d heartily recommend a visit to Maciej’s photostream, where you’ll find excellent photos of more lovely railway models and layouts. I particularly like the images shot with tilt-shift. A train crashing over a collapsed wooden bridge is a classic Hollywood peril that we now get to see built in bricks thanks to W. Navarre. Many aspects of the model are built without using prefabricated parts such as the train tracks, train wheel chassis, and even the cow catcher on the front of the train. Check out more photos of this detailed creation on MOCpages. One of the most famous crashes in rail history is captured in this build by monstrophonic. On 22nd October 1895 the Granville-Paris Express entered the Montparnasse station travelling too fast in an attempt to make up for lost time. It failed to stop and ploughed through the buffers, across the concourse, and out through the station wall. Amazingly only a single person was killed — a woman hit by falling masonry.
This would have been a great model on its own merits, but the fact it’s a compelling recreation of such a famous image just makes it all the better. Check out the original photograph and more information about the crash here. Nefarious Blacktron forces may inhabit the remote reaches of space, but that doesn’t mean they lack sweet infrastructure. We’ve already brought you a peek at Stephan Niehoff’s take on Blacktron’s new battle tank, the Scorpion II, and now Stephan lets us get a good look at the sleek Rhino, Blacktron’s on-planet wartime materiel supply solution. One of the biggest dilemmas that LEGO builders face is choosing between impressive appearance and complex functionality of their creations. LEGO pieces, although offering an enormous number of combinations, still place huge limits on the functionality and mobility of models. That’s why hitting on a sweet build complete with a video of functions in action excites me like nothing else. One of the best Latvian builders, de-marco, whose works are always especially neat and aesthetically beautiful, has shared a small diorama of an old rusty rail-road crane by the loading area.