My dad's LEGO train buildings - real life pictures

[Murdoch17]

Here are my Dad's custom buildings from the mid 1990's - early 2000's, excluding his train tunnel (which I forgot to to take pictures of). Pictures taken from my cellphone, so please excuse the crappy pics.

This double track train shed was built by my father way before I had built my first LEGO system train. It was originally single track and used parts using several copies of set 6380 (Emergency Treatment Center) from 1987.

Around 2005, I rediscovered the model and he decided to add a second stall to the engine shed, which he did (using a rather new website called Bricklink) He even added brick built re-railers to in-between the rails.

Here is the rear of the shed, which can't fit any of my custom engines or large-N-long official trains like the Emerald Night.

This is the grain elevator that my dad hasn't finished (yet). It has been sitting since 1999-ish with white splotches where their should be old gray. (see over by the loading bay) It also needs work on the delivery method to the train cars. Right now it just has a open spot in the roof and swinging double doors to stop the flow of tan 1 x 1 cylinders to the track below. I have suggested adding a conveyor belt to the building to increase capacity, but only time will tell if it is implemented.

The bridge was built in the mid 1990's by my Dad and features the base-plate from set 6552 (Rocky Retreat) from 1993.

This factory was by my Dad around the years 2000 - 2004 with parts from several Sand Red supplemental packs available at that time. It does not feature any interior, nor does it have a removable roof. But this thing is built STRONG: you have to really put your weight on it to press the roof together.

It has never been determined what this factory made in-universe, though for my own purposes, I pretended it made beverages. What beverages, you ask? Why, Dr. Leg O. Brick's Root Beer of course!

Thoughts, comments, and complaints are always welcome!

[THERIZE]

now we know where your talent of building LEGO came from that shed looks pretty nice!

[Murdoch17]

now we know where your talent of building LEGO came from that shed looks pretty nice!

Thanks for stopping by! My dad's builds have been blowing my phone up today, as I posted them here on Eurobricks, MOCpages, Flickr and several Facebook groups at around the same time. People have been liking the models all day and when I told him about it all, he couldn't believe it that in just 7 hours 34 people have like it on Facebook groups alone! That's more than any of my builds so far.

Sorry if it's off topic, I just can't believe that he's gotten such good feedback!

Anyway, here is my interpretation of his stuff:

I have faithfully recreated the elevator and added some parts that did not exist in '99, such as the red windscreens used a funnel, and a conveyor belt with handle.

I also did some major goofs, such as making the building one stud too thin, (it should be 16 studs wide at the base), but I hope I compensated enough by making the funnel tall enough to let the tallest official train car I could think of go through without problems.

This model was originally designed back in the late 1990's by my Father for his 9V locomotives. After completion, It sat in the Basement alongside his other custom models including his tunnel, grain elevator, bridge, and water tower. Fast Forward a decade to 2006. I had played with his models all my childhood, using them for my own trains until he built me my own smaller single track version in black & red around 2006. I longed to figure out how to build my own, and in in 2005, I discovered Bricklink & LEGO Digital Designer. I didn't really use them together until 2010, when the first version of my dad's shed was built. It wasn't very good, but it led to this model back in 2012: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/335344 From there I made the roof removable, and then I added newer windows, and a less expensive color scheme. By mid 2013, it was compete, at least in digital format.

I think it's pretty evident what this should be.

I originally built these three models in LDD in the middle of last year 92014), but have never built them in real life.

My thoughts on them are the following:

Do they do a better job at representibg real prototypes than the original models? ...maybe. Do they have same basic look as the originals? ...yes. Would I take these over my dad's creations? ...no! They lack the blood, sweat and tears that my dad put into his models, and as such, a part of him is missing from these reproductions. it's like copying a ancient Greek vase with high quality replica version. They may do it better in a mechanized factory, but they don't put their soul into each and every hand-crafted one.

That's my two cents, and I'm sorry if it ran a little long.

[zephyr1934]

Those are really great builds given the parts availability (and lack of bricklink) of the day... and even today they still have a timeless classic look harking back to the 7777 idea book

[Legoboy22]

Now i know how you got good at building :)

[Murdoch17]

Those are really great builds given the parts availability (and lack of bricklink) of the day... and even today they still have a timeless classic look harking back to the 7777 idea book

Now i know how you got good at building :)

Thank you both for your kind words. I'll pass along the compliments to my dad.