Brickington Station

[Eilif]

B-T-2B

One more item knocked off my list of improvements to be made to Brickington before Brickworld. As always, here's the backstory.

One of the main municipal improvements to Brickington has been the updating of the train station. Formerly, a simple covered platform dating back some 70 years, it now has received restoration and remodeling to include a ticket booth, and a second platform in between the second rails. All that remains of the original building is the red roof and the arched supports. Residents were quite pleased to see that the new middle platform was built to complement the style of the main platform.

The new station has proved quite popular amongst the locals and especially tourists, who appreciate being able to interact with a transit employee and have all their questions answered before purchasing a ticket. It has also proved quite popular amongst the conductors who -as a resut of tickets being purchased before boarding- spend much less time selling tickets and making change, and much more time doing their more favored activities of keeping their coaches clean, and reprimanding rambunctious hooligans.

Now for the pictures:

Here's the whole station. In my former module, there was a road passing through where the station now is (despite the backstory, this is an entirely new MOC), so I have redirected the road over the tracks so it doesn't stop abruptly.

A close up of the front. It's hard to see, but in order to accommodate the 1/2 brick setback from the tracks, the upper platform overlaps the lower step by a half a stud.

Rear view of the station

South side of the station

North side of the station showing the ticketing booth

Roof removed from waiting area to show the interior. I tried to build in a way that would allow me to have more studs for mounting minifigs. Also, it's hard to see, but the arches impede the opening of the door, so I mounted the door still facing out, but on the inside of the door frame so that it opens inwards, but still faces outwards.

All but 4 of the buildings in Brickington are modular in the style of Market Street. That means that they are all built on a stackable 16x16 or 8x16 stud base. Here you can see the pieces of Brickington station disassembled. Both modules are 8x16, and the base will accept any of my other 8x16 modules. the roofs are larger than 8x16, but they can sit on top of any 8x16 module, and can be slid sideways to overhang whichever way the neighboring buildings may require.

There you have it. I'm pretty happy with it, but I think it might be a bit plain, so any suggestions for improvement or enhancement are welcome. I'm also considering rebuilding it as two 16x16 modules, but that would fill the space awfully tight, and this has to fit in my layout right behind the "Shark Bar".

Edited September 7, 2011 by Phred

[Captain Green Hair]

Looks like a decent station to me aleady!

You could add a timetable, as a big sign hanging from the building or just standing on a pole.

The red stripe under the roof in the facade seems a bit out of place, i'd remove that.

A black stripe under the roofs could add something, even more when also done on the sides of the roof on the facade.

Good luck with it!

[Zorbas]

Very beautiful station Eilif!

The colours you've chosen match perfectly together. The tiled floor is great, especially the colour of the tiles!

I really like the small platform.Simple yet effective!

Very good idea concerning the 1/2 stud. In that way, it makes it look more realistic. I don't know if that walk path on the tracks is safe for the minifigs though .

Perhaps a small pedestrians bridge could be useful although i understand that considering the small distance seperating the two platforms it would have benn too steep. How about something like this?

A small snackbar or soda machine would be a good addition too. You can solve this simply by putting this little guy

Overall, great shiny MOC!

[sens1992]

Great MOC! I love your train station.

[Loganwan]

But, uh? I didn't know Brickington had a train station. I am going to have to do more homework. I think it fits in well with the rest of your designs. The last two pics on your description are the same. I am assuming the last pic was supposed to be of all of the pieces of the station.

Thanks for sharing.

[Freddie]

Very cute station. Personally I would have moved the boarding-platform 1 stud closer to the rails on each side - that way there'd still be room for 8-wides to pass without leaving a leviathanian gap for the 6-wides, which I suspect this station is scaled towards?

I should also point towards how the platforms are too low, but that would just ruin the looks. And who cares if it's too low, if it looks this good?

Thanks for sharing!

[WesternOutlaw]

Senor Polomar and another fig in a cowboy hat? I love it! Your pictures are very nice as well. I really like the classic red roof. I used a red roof (with wider red roof pieces) for a simple train depot I built a number of years ago. Here's a shot:

This is very nice. It has a lot of activity that really makes the scene look like a train that's just around the corner. The color selection also works very well.

Great job!

[Ricecracker]

Another fine addition to Brickington, Eilif! I think you've done a great job giving the feeling of a busy morning commute, and it looks wonderful too. My only suggestion would be to make the back a little more interesting, I think even adding a brick-built dumpster would suffice. Again, your stuff is making me even more psyched to go to Brickworld!

Edited February 22, 2009 by Ricecracker

[Bartram]

Great work, Eilif! It's very simple yet gorgeous looking. 9/10

[Basiliscus]

I've come to expect a high standard from you Eilif, and this MOC is simple but has nice elements once you scratch below the surface.

It's unusual to see the 2x2 dark tan tiles and 2x2 light bley plates in a checkerboard pattern but I think it works nicely. I might even try that technique myself! I'm a fan of the slight overlap on the platform as I think it looks quite realistic (I understand that this was necessary anyway). The 1x2 trans-clear bricks used as windows on the back of the MOC is simple yet effective.

I really like the colour scheme in this MOC. The way you have created seperate heights for the different shades of grey is a nice touch. However, I do agree with previous comments about the red stripe under the roof - this needs to be light grey/bley to match the wall (in my opinion having the bottom of the roof with a black highlight, as was suggested, wouldn't work).

I feel the rear of the MOC needs a little work. It's quite bare and it looks like it's been neglected somewhat. The dark gray wall looks rushed in my opinion and needs some uniformity - the 1x3 slopes could be enhanced by the use of cheese slopes in-between. The other end of the wall needs slopes or some other way of making it less blocky in my opinion. I'd have used tiles over the whole rear wall area to make it look more smooth.

Despite these comments it's still a very nice MOC!

[Hinckley]

Wow, look at you go with all the MOCs lately! Yippee! This is a really great station. I especially like the glass block windows. You get in a great amount of function and detail without getting too big. Does it all fit on a 32 x 32? I like how the roofs (rooves? No, roofs is right. ) come off, but is the whole building hinged? Way to go getting jumper plates into your tiled floor. I always forget and have to tear it up and re-lay it so my mini-figs can stand in a place. Excellent MOC! Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Eilif]

Thanks for all your comments folks. The feedback I've been getting recently has been a great inspiration to keep improving Brickington in the run up to Brickworld. Also I just corrected the last photo. Now you can see what it looks like when disassembled.

You could add a timetable, as a big sign hanging from the building or just standing on a pole.

The red stripe under the roof in the facade seems a bit out of place, i'd remove that.

The timetable's a great Idea. I think I have the sticker from the train station set that shows the train map somewhere. The red is just the plates the roof is based on. I might change that.

Very good idea concerning the 1/2 stud. In that way, it makes it look more realistic. I don't know if that walk path on the tracks is safe for the minifigs though .

Perhaps a small pedestrians bridge could be useful although i understand that considering the small distance seperating the two platforms it would have benn too steep. How about something like this?

A small snackbar or soda machine would be a good addition too. You can solve this simply by putting this little guy

Overall, great shiny MOC!

You're right that the pedestrian walkway is not ideal. I considered a little bridge, but the required height for the club is over 15 bricks high! the walkway would dwarf the train station. Maybe a small walkway next to the road with a mini-gate would be better?

Great MOC! I love your train station.

Thanks!

But, uh? I didn't know Brickington had a train station. I am going to have to do more homework. I think it fits in well with the rest of your designs. The last two pics on your description are the same. I am assuming the last pic was supposed to be of all of the pieces of the station.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the note on the pics, I'll get the correct picture up right away.

Very cute station. Personally I would have moved the boarding-platform 1 stud closer to the rails on each side - that way there'd still be room for 8-wides to pass without leaving a leviathanian gap for the 6-wides, which I suspect this station is scaled towards?

I should also point towards how the platforms are too low, but that would just ruin the looks. And who cares if it's too low, if it looks this good?

Thanks for sharing!

You're definitely right about appearances, but I brought it as close as the club regulations would allow. We have alot of 8 wide trains whose greebles sometimes stick out even more! Glad you like the look!

Senor Polomar and another fig in a cowboy hat? I love it! Your pictures are very nice as well. I really like the classic red roof. I used a red roof (with wider red roof pieces) for a simple train depot I built a number of years ago. Here's a shot:

This is very nice. It has a lot of activity that really makes the scene look like a train that's just around the corner. The color selection also works very well.

Great job!

Gracias (from Sr. Polomar)! Nice depot you have there. I stocked up on red roof pieces at PAB when I first came out of my dark ages, and I've been finding them to be extremely useful ever since.

Another fine addition to Brickington, Eilif! I think you've done a great job giving the feeling of a busy morning commute, and it looks wonderful too. My only suggestion would be to make the back a little more interesting, I think even adding a brick-built dumpster would suffice. Again, your stuff is making me even more psyched to go to Brickworld!

I agree with you. The building next door will obscure most of the back, but you're definately right that it needs something. I've never built a dumpster before. I guess it's time to start!

Great work, Eilif! It's very simple yet gorgeous looking. 9/10

Thanks for the kinds words. (and the high score )

I've come to expect a high standard from you Eilif, and this MOC is simple but has nice elements once you scratch below the surface....

...I really like the colour scheme in this MOC. The way you have created seperate heights for the different shades of grey is a nice touch. However, I do agree with previous comments about the red stripe under the roof - this needs to be light grey/bley to match the wall (in my opinion having the bottom of the roof with a black highlight, as was suggested, wouldn't work).

I feel the rear of the MOC needs a little work. It's quite bare and it looks like it's been neglected somewhat. The dark gray wall looks rushed in my opinion and needs some uniformity - the 1x3 slopes could be enhanced by the use of cheese slopes in-between. The other end of the wall needs slopes or some other way of making it less blocky in my opinion. I'd have used tiles over the whole rear wall area to make it look more smooth.

Despite these comments it's still a very nice MOC!

Great Observations! I think you're right, especially about the wall on the entryway walk. I'll try and work something in there to make it look not so blocky.

Edited February 22, 2009 by Eilif

[Zorbas]

Adding the last photo, clearly showing the modular potentials of the station at all their glory makes me like it even more!

[Darth Legolas]

Man, this would be such a cool set! Even though I never buy city, it looks like a really cool design!

Great! :thumbup:

[Eilif]

I made some changes I thought you all might like to see.

First, I updated the rear of the building

Here's the much requested updated railing

And I added a proper dumpster. In Chicago, blue with dual black plastic lids is a pretty common color combo.

I was going to just make a brick box, but I decided to try some SNOT work.

The dumpster is big enough that a minifig can sit inside, and a monkey can almost entirely fit in there.

The economic slump has hit Brickington too.

I found the system map sticker. I got this in a LEGO store grab bag, and have been saving it for just the right project. I'm pretty proud of the way this minifig turned out also. As minifigs go, She's pretty hip.

Here's the far side of the station. with a new higher fence As you all suggested, I removed the red line created by the roof baseplates.

Heres the near side of the station with my slightly modified "Indy" car: removed tarp, new window, improved side "mirrors" and streamlined trunk.

Thanks again to everyone for their comments. I was going to leave it as it was originally, but your comments have helped make it a much better MOC.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Eilif

[Ricecracker]

Great improvements Eilif! I think it looks much better now. The dumpster looks great as do the railings, and the Minifig, woo-wee .