My small town and train layout

[Gorki247]

We recently moved house and I finally have some room to have a permanent town layout. It's not finished yet, but I thought it has progressed enough for me to share and get some input from the community on my first proper town.

My goal is to display the modulars while still having a decent train layout and bringing some life into it by using as many of my minifigs as possible to create these little scenes.

A view down main street. This is not final as I don't have all the correct road plates I need yet. I'm also not sure yet about the placement of the family house at the bottom right.

A birds-eye view of the town. Public transport needs some work. You may have noticed that the monorail hasn't been completed yet (missing some track and the supports need improving). The railway crossings are also still work in progress.

A front on look at the town. You may recognise some faces from The Lego Movie. I haven't seen it yet (no spoilers, please), but have decided that my town is set in the same universe so I can be a bit more creative with some of the minifigs I use. I also have Cloud Cuckoo Palace on order, which I'll put on that shelf as a way to incorporate that place into my town.

Once the roads and public transport issues have been sorted, I'll post some close-up views of the various happenings around town.

I welcome your thought and suggestions. Thanks.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Gorki247

[Toby Adams]

I see what you did there with the Light Repair Truck, I certainly need another!

[conorp43]

Cool, kinda cluttered though

Cool, kinda cluttered though

Almost liek you couldn't let you kids out or they would get hit by a train jsut passing a few metres away

[TheLegGodt]

I like cluttered as long as there is a story. Finding enough space to display your models I think is a challenge for most AFOLs. This is LEGO, not real life afterall, so artistic license is acceptable, right? I have a lot of minifig kids playing near trains (within a centimeter!) but luckily no-one has got hurt yet...

One thing I would change is the road plates. I don't like the pre-fabricated ones you can buy from LEGO. Also, they are inefficient since they tend to leave little space for displaying models next to the roads.

[Hrw-Amen]

True, it is a bit cluttered but I guess most of us have a problem of space and want to make the most of it using as many of our models as we can. I note that you have a shelf with other trains on, so I am guessing that you just included as many trains as you could in the pictures and would not normally swamp it with them?

I like the micro manager whizzing in from above, it took me a while to figure out what it was!

I like that you have included a couple of lines all the way around and then a couple of passing loops. It is hard to know what t include in a small place especially as you want to show off all your modualrs.

It is a good start to a good CITY Layout using the space you have avaiable. I wish I had the same, even enough for a small layout so anything I am jealous of. Well done.

I think I would make my station a little bigger though, or at least extend the platforms. Maybe incorporate the Monorail station into it, so it becomes a transport hub?

[lightningtiger]

Nice start to your layout 'Gorki247'......keep going and Brick On !

[Gorki247]

Thanks for the comments all. Yes, some may consider it ‘cluttered’, but I like it this way. I wanted to have a busy town with lots of activity. My only ‘rule’ now is that anything I add, has to have some reason or mini-story behind it (some maybe sillier than others, of course).

My son loves to see the trains go round (and I have too many to hide away), so they had to be included. As I wanted to be able to have two running at the same time, I accepted that it would be close considering the limited space available. Besides, if one of the minifigs does get hit by a train, it’s not like it’s fatal; they can be rebuild after all ;-)

At most, there will be three on the track (not counting the monorail shuttle), with one of them being stationary. Although maybe not all long ones at the same time, like in the pictures. I will swap them out now and again with some from my shelf to have some variation.

@TheLegGodt - I’m a bit stuck with regards to the roads. I’m currently using what I had available, but would need some more T-junctions for what I have in mind. Mine are the older roads with the green borders, so I’d have to be a bit creative with the joins so it is not too jarring against the new style plates. The LEGO plates are actually fine for what I have in mind; at least for the main road. I was thinking of using the area between the road and the modular pavements for parking spaces and a green zone, where I can set up some little scenes. However, for the secondary roads leading to the train station and around the corner buildings, I could do with something a bit more flexible and less wide.

I have been thinking of using some alternatives for these, but am not sure what yet. Brick-build roads aren’t really an option for me (at least not right now) and I am a bit reluctant to use a non-LEGO solution, although would consider it. Any suggestions?

@Hrw-Amen - Nice to see you like the micro manager.

At first, my plan was to stick with the city theme and make it a current-day town (I actually bought that particular set for the ice cream truck), but then I decided to make use of my other sets.

So, now it’s set in the wider LEGO universe. I am keeping it light, just adding some nods to the other themes, and hopefully with a sense of humour. You won’t see any transformer-like fire engines walking around or Star Wars space ships flying over (although, a stormtrooper speeding on his bicycle through town would be funny, right?). It will be mostly minifies with maybe some set pieces. You may see Harry Potter enjoying a cup of coffee on the terrace (well not in these pictures, but you may have spotted his owl nearby), or some characters from the LEGO movie about town. Just now, I added Iron Man enjoying an ice-cream while the Mandarin is seeing what’s on at the cinema, and very soon Superman will be enjoying a leisurely flight above town. Just little thing like that.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Gorki247

[TimH]

Great start to your Lego city. I'm also working on my own small city layout and this is great inspiration.

[TheLegGodt]

I like the humour too. On top of my Modular Shop I have a Lex Luthor mech and super man battling it out. Meanwhile Indy is whizzing down the street just missing the Harry Potter triple-decker bus. Not to mention Chicken Suit Guy endlessly waiting for his train to come in (to take him to a surprise party I guess) and then there's a winter-dressed Han Solo walking over the beach (!) staring up at Princess Leia in her gold bikini on top of the balcony of her beach house. I say anything goes, collections and layouts are about your own personality and I don't live in boxes ;-) I will share photos of mine one day. I have similar amount of space I estimate but in a different setup.

RE the roads. I really don't know what to advise. I guess the benefit of the prefab roads is that they are quite wide so you can indeed make more scenes and add more vehicles. Personally, I invested 200 euros in dark grey and light grey 1x2 smooth tiles and built roads similar to the Modular pavement layout. I live in Holland and often the pavement and roads tend to converge at the same level so it seemed to make sense. I also created a 'gothic' square based around HP, LOTR and the Arkam Asylum with very strong colours: tan, dark grey, light grey, orange and purple. It works nicely in a very strange way. That was another 100 euros. Damned expensive hobby this.

[timmyc1983]

I love your layout so far. I think what some have called cluttered I consider busy, and every town should be busy! I also like the idea of adding different themes in with the town, I too shall be incorporating some of the LEGO movie characters into my town soon enough.

With the roads, the parking idea is the best, check out my layout here. I widened the footpath/sidewalk about 4 studs and then use the remaining 6 studs for the parking spaces. But I must admit I am a sucker for the old school road plates

Anyway, I look forward to future updates, don't forget to add your town to the index so it's easier for me to find the topic when I wanna come back and look

Happy building