Brick Train Awards 2020 winners

[BricksMcgee]

Hi all,

The winners of the Brick Train Awards 2020 have been announced (there's a 15 minute announcement video if you prefer that), so here's a round up of the global winners (you can find winners in each category for Americas, Asia, Australasia and Europe linked there too);

Best steam locomotive

P2 “Prince of Wales”
Samuel Sims
Australia, Australasia

Just a stunning model - all of the details and customisations made this the standout entry in a category with a lot of tough competition. I love the use of the bucket handles and the lining particularly.

Best diesel locomotive

Bangor & Aroostook Diesel
Alexander Geary
USA, Americas

A superb rendition of this American loco - particularly impressive tube bending, as mine always end up messy!

Best LEGO® Electric Locomotive

Alstom Pendolino ED250 PKP Intercity
Mateusz Waldowski
Poland, Europe

This was one of my personal favourites, and I'm glad it came through from the Europe region to win best global electric locomotive. The shaping work is beautiful, and the nose is well captured - definitely a hard profile to replicate in LEGO bricks!

Best Other LEGO® Locomotive

Narrow Gauge Climax Geared Loco
Alexander McCooke
Australia, Australasia

Another standout model for me - it looks like its real life prototype so closely; it looks like an O Gauge model to me at a distance.

Best LEGO® Passenger Wagon

Amtrak Amfleet II
Andy Tanjaroon
USA, Americas

One of three digital renders to make it through to the global awards, the profile of this passenger car is really nicely captured - I'd love to see it built in the brick.

Best LEGO® Freight Wagon

GATX Tanker Wagon
Mateusz Waldowski
Poland, Europe

Another European win for this superb tanker wagon. The undercarriage details are nicely done, and the few smaller stickers/vinyls give it that little bit extra. Wouldn't mind a rake of these to run at home!

Best TFOL Model

JR西日本125系電車 / JR West 125 series
Y.Higashibata
Japan, Asia

The TFOL awards was one of my favourite categories, as it bought out so much hidden talent I hadn't seen before. This render of a Japenese unit is superb; lovely shaping, and the cab front work leaves a smooth finish for some challenging angles.

Best LEGO® Group Display

MLTC Display
Melbourne LEGO Train Club
Australia, Australasia

Not sure there's not surprise at this one - the MTLC layout at Brickvention each year is a huge collaborative work, and each section is beautifully detail - the photo above shows only half of the layout!

Best LEGO® Individual Display

2020 City
Tim Howell
USA, Americas

A lovely little city display - custom cars, vans, buildings and locos, and it looks more finished than my LEGO cities every did! This one has inspired me to set my own city up again - it's been 6 months since I moved house and much of my LEGO city is still in boxes!

Best LEGO® Structure

Blast furnace
Yvonne Strijbos
Netherlands, Europe

This was another "wow" model when I saw the entry come in. The above shot is a render, but the builder has also built it in the brick, and it's a lovely piece of railway infrastructure - a lot going on in a relatively small space.

Thanks to everyone who entered this year - and we have the happy news that the Brick Train Awards will return for 2021 in February/March, to allow contestants time to enter OcTRAINber too. We'll be looking at adapting and adding some categories to better suit model entries, as well as a few other changes based on feedback we've had.

[A_Eurobricks_User]

Congrats to the winners!!!!

[JWBDolphins]

Congrats to ALL!!!  That's the kind of work I (only hope to) aspire to and why I really enjoy LEGO as a modelling medium!

 

[BricksMcgee]

2 minutes ago, JWBDolphins said:

Congrats to ALL!!!  That's the kind of work I (only hope to) aspire to and why I really enjoy LEGO as a modelling medium!

 

I’ve seen a lot of cool LEGO railway models this year already thanks to this. We hope to post quite a few more of the entries we received over time too. 
 

Some of them truly take LEGO modelling in to the next level - the customisation, stickers, printing - it’s hard to tell they’re LEGO, and I think that’s what I find impressive!

I’d say there’s a fine line between “just enough” and “too much” customisation, of course. I’m just not sure where that line is. 

[JWBDolphins]

3 hours ago, BricksMcgee said:

I’d say there’s a fine line between “just enough” and “too much” customisation, of course. I’m just not sure where that line is.

Agreed, and I'm not sure where that line is either.  I'm sure there as many opinions as there are Eurobricks members. :-)

There is something Magical about a Pure LEGO build that doesn't look like its built with LEGO.  But there are parts of trains that are integral to their look that LEGO doesn't currently provide (rods, wheels of various sizes and colors, stickers) and if LEGO were to produce them they would seamlessly swap in.  That's generally where I probably fall.

I look forward to all the new creations and tweaks to existing models that are yet to come!

[lego9vtrainfan]

Congratulations to all of the winners and entrants for making this an exciting new initiative in the LEGO train community!

[Jerry McGlade]

All of them are masterpieces! Wow!

[aawsum]

Nice winners.

Is there a way to see all contenders?

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

I have always had a soft spot for Ymarilego's works!

The blast furnace is a masterpiece!

[BricksMcgee]

11 hours ago, aawsum said:

Nice winners.

Is there a way to see all contenders?

Probably not this year. We’ve posted quite a few entries on the Twitter / Facebook / Instagram accounts and are planning to continue this for at least a few more weeks though - all accounts linked on the website linked in the OP. 

On 7/22/2020 at 4:10 AM, JWBDolphins said:

Agreed, and I'm not sure where that line is either.  I'm sure there as many opinions as there are Eurobricks members. :-)

There is something Magical about a Pure LEGO build that doesn't look like its built with LEGO.  But there are parts of trains that are integral to their look that LEGO doesn't currently provide (rods, wheels of various sizes and colors, stickers) and if LEGO were to produce them they would seamlessly swap in.  That's generally where I probably fall.

I look forward to all the new creations and tweaks to existing models that are yet to come!

Yup, would agree. Pure builds is the ultimate aim, but I doubt LEGO would every produce rods and wheels to the designs we’d need. That seems a fair balance to me 

[KKKKKKKKKK]

They are indeed amazing builds.