MOC: European Train Station

[Bojan Pavsic]

Hey, might be a good time to show another MOC that i've made. (Thanks to a friend that made the pictures)

I made this train station for a local LUG show.

It's a mix of many train stations around the world (mainly European ones and some might recognize the similarities with Gare du Nord train station in Paris). The roof is similar to the Berlin station etc...

The dimensions of the main building are 48 x 51 studs (so a little bigger then the large LBG baseplate). I couldn't fit it exactly into 48 studs width because of the roof configuration.

The waiting platforms are 64 studs long (3 of them) and fit 3 train tracks. The roof over them is made out of technic parts to simulate some real-life girders. It's covered in 8x8 trans blue plates (ordered in 7 segments, 8 pcs long).

The insides of the main building are in 3 levels:

- ground floor (front half of the building, featuring a shop, ticket & info counter and a hallway with some stairs onto the waiting platforms.

- waiting platforms (about 3 bricks off the ground) have some vending machines, train timetables and some benches. From here, minifigs can use the escalators to get to the balcony.

- the balcony has some more benches, a restaurant and a nice overview of incoming and outgoing trains.

I used SNOT extensively to make interesting walls, especially on the front side of the station. The side walls of the platforms are mostly SNOTted too.

Some info:

~ 6 kg

~ 7500+ parts

~ 800 DBG 2x2 tiles

~ 300 black cheese slopes

~ 100 trans panels 1x2x1

- 56 trans-blue 8x8 plates

...

Here's some pictures:

Front side of the main building:

Waiting platforms, roof configuration, balcony, vending machines...

Side view (full length is 112 studs ~ 90 cm)

Since the train station is pretty much covered and it was pretty hard to get decent pictures of the insides without breaking it apart, i included some LDD generated pictures of some things that might be interesting.

Waiting platforms:

Elevators:

Link to the LDD file (without interior and baseplates... i used this file to get the parts with LDD Manager - tnx to Superkalle).

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bpavsic/MyMOCs/TrainStation/design_-_ts2_parts.lxf

Edited April 8, 2011 by Bojan Pavsic

[MightySlickPancake]

Really nice . The roof is very impressive, although its a shame about the studs, it would have looked better with a flat surface .

The facade looks very fancy with lots of details . Now the inside is just fantastic, i just wish we could see more of .

Great work .

Thanks, CB

[Bojan Pavsic]

@crabboy329

Well, since it got damaged during transport back home, i need to fix it. I'll try to take it apart a bit more and take pictures of the insides, but it's no promise :)

The problem with the roof studs is that there aren't any big tiles in trans colors (8x16, 6x6,...). Even big trans plates are pretty rare.

[roamingstop]

First up - really nice model. Reminds me a lot of Zurich Hauptbahnhoff.

Second the struts on the roof look to be in tension - how were they made as the technique looks good.

[AussieJimbo]

Wow, what a great station.

I don't mind the studs. It makes for a translucent rather than a transparent roof which is fine.

Top job.

:classic:

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Great train station Bojan Pavsic I really like the train loading bay and really great job on the roof. I'm sure this caught a lot of looks at the show. Great work

[Bojan Pavsic]

I included a link to (partly incomplete) LDD file of this (in the original post), that i used for the design. You can check how the roof construction is made.

The problem with the roof is that the pillars have to be sturdy enough. If the stretch out, the roof straightens as the axles are pulled out of the connectors. If i'd use the technic beams 9L, it'd be really sturdy, but it wouldn't look so nice.

About the show, yea, it caught some looks, but the main problem was that hardly anyone saw, that there's stuff inside of it. So i'm looking into some lighting of the interior or something, just to make it a bit more visible.

Edited April 8, 2011 by Bojan Pavsic

[roamingstop]

About the show, yea, it caught some looks, but the main problem was that hardly anyone saw, that there's stuff inside of it. So i'm looking into some lighting of the interior or something, just to make it a bit more visible.

Some ideas:

A large well positioned mirror to help people look up, into, the station from a low eye perspective...

A small webcam linked to a video monitor which puts you at the eye perspective of the mini-figs?

A roof which can (randomly? Motor) open up like a clam shell so people get a chance to see inside, and appreciate the building. (ok not possible if the roof struts are too important).

A second version of the station minus the roof (lots of bricks and space = , but chance to appreciate the build

[Vindice]

That's fantastic. I'm really in two minds about showing this to my 4 year old boy or he'll want me to try and build one too!

[henryhotspurs]

Absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing!

[mpec82]

Great (and big ).

I liked the way you made the roof.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Beautiful building!

I love this outstanding MOC ...I like the statues on the front and I like the external shape of the station.

The inner details are very cool! Great work

[Fuzzylegobricks]

What a beautiful moc! I love the use of the minifig statues, and the clear icy blue used for a whole window roof.

I will like to build one like this some time!

[Bojan Pavsic]

Thanks again for all the replies.

I still feel that it's somewhat empty. It's quite a big MOC and i'm not very good in the "final touch details". I think there should be a lot more going on in there (more minifigs, all kinds of - workers, train station employees, maybe even some conductors that went for a meal while the train is stopped, passengers of all sorts).

I might switch the DBG roof plates over the station building with the trans-blue ones, to allow a bit more light inside and to make people notice, that there's something going on under the roof too. The idea with retractable roof is sadly not an option. At least not like this. The roof construction is not sturdy enough to allow it to be "opened". It relies on the pillars on both sides which keep it together. If they would tilt ouside, the whole roof would fall into itself. The only option would be a technic beam connection from one end of the arch to the other, but that would somehow ruin the appearance.

I'm playing with the idea to make a new similar station with the option of retractable roof. We'll see... i need to finish my skyscraper hotel first :)

[Princess Muttonchops]

Awesome MOC Bojan. The scale works amazingly well, and I love how half the roof is trans blue, with that gorgeous trussing. Seriously good stuff.

[L@go]

I agree with everybody else - it's great, and so magnificent in all its bigness :) I don't mind the studded roof, either. I can see how you would like to add some more details to finish it off properly, but the starting point sure is fabulous!

[Enpaz]

Very nice building and great use of the bley minifigure statues! Your station soo much reminds me of the Copenhagen central train station.

[gogocar]

It's massive and cool. I love the minifig statues.

The roof build is just amazing and the inside is even better.

A lot of bricks, a lot of time, but it was certainly worth of it.

You have made an amazing job Bojan!

[Brickaroo]

Bojaneeee! Svaka ti cast, to je super!

Pozdrav is Australije!

[MetroiD]

Hauptbahnhof in bricks! Yay!

[Odyssey]

Wow, I'd wish to be able to build a station like that sometime, especially in this classical European styling. But at the moment, that's sadly not an option...

[Bojan Pavsic]

Well, you know what they say: "Where there's a will there's a way" :)

Took me some time too... It actually started out as a pass through station, with the building at the side of the tracks... Then it evolved into a double sized project as it is now :)

[Sheriff von Snottingham]

Nice station with so many wonderful details! When displaying at events, are the platforms extended out of the roof? Most dead-end-stations just have the first part of the platforms covered with roof.

Edit:

P.S.: I like the cutlass as technique detail!!

Edited April 20, 2011 by Sheriff von Snottingham

[Bojan Pavsic]

No, the platforms are long only as much, as the roof is. I might extend them a bit more, sometime in the future, but right now i'm working on another building, so this one is for now staying as it is.

[Brickaroo]

Well, you know what they say: "Where there's a will there's a way" :)

Took me some time too... It actually started out as a pass through station, with the building at the side of the tracks... Then it evolved into a double sized project as it is now :)

Agree with this. I have some outrageous ideas for track ballasting/landscaping around a track setup but it will take some time (and investment) so I will just chip away at it as we go. It's not like I plan on ever giving up my passion for Lego trains so I've got plenty of time to work on it slowly. :-)

Bojane, odakle si majstore?