MOC: Pedestrian Bridge Building with Ticket Office

[AussieJimbo]

Like many train fans one of my goals is to build a nice mainline train station. It's a major undertaking which is quite daunting so my plan is to begin with some smaller buildings to get some ideas about how it might come together.

I decided to start by enhancing the pedestrian bridges from the 7937 sets I've used for my existing platforms. Whilst not based on any particular real-life example, often a station may have a more substantial structure to support the stairs up to the pedestrian bridge over the line.

In this case I've elected to put a ticket office on the ground floor. The first floor is a storeroom. The second floor, besides providing access to the pedestrian overpass, can be used as a waiting area where passengers can get a nice view of the trains and surrounding town. (I haven't done the interiors yet, have to fix some "running out of pieces" bodging first.)

Being the first build in the series, my intention was to find a design which integrates with the existing Lego sets and that I can carry forward to the later more substantial station buildings, the next of which will be a signal box, perhaps adjoining another bridge tower at the other end of the station.

I've chosen the Apple Tree House as the parts source for the all the station buildings I'll be making. The basic idea for the structure comes from one of the set's alternate models but now it has an additional floor and all but the roof has been significantly modified.

So anyway, enough words, here are a few pictures:

Assembling the modules floor by floor:

Please forgive the inconbrickstant colours in the foundations. The lowest layer should be all black bricks, except the building footings.

Whilst the pilot greets his sweetheart, a gorilla tries to pay for his ticket with a banana.

_{Click images for larger versions.}

I hope you like it and please let me know if you have any suggestions for improvements.

:classic:

Edited January 18, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[Fires-storm]

I actually quite like this, the color scheme is good, the height of the building is just about perfect, and the gorilla made me fall out of my chair laughing while choking on my cereal Well done on this mate, and also from what I can tell your track layout is pretty sweet too!

[AussieJimbo]

I actually quite like this, the color scheme is good, the height of the building is just about perfect, and the gorilla made me fall out of my chair laughing while choking on my cereal

*laugh*

Well done on this mate, and also from what I can tell your track layout is pretty sweet too!

Cheers Fires-storm.

Yeah, I put a nice "little" layout together based on a dual track mainline with a connecting branch line in between. It works really well with two trains running in opposite directions on the up and down mains or a single train can take all sorts of interesting circuits and returns.

I'll get a few more photos of the layout in the week or so it stays up before I want my floor back.

:classic:

Edited January 18, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[mpec82]

Very nice, maybe you could add some railings on the stairs so poor minifig don't risk to fall on the tracks.

[LegoSjaak]

Oh yeah, i really like it.. as has been said already, the colourscheme is vere good and there is a high grade of realism in your bridge-building!! It makes me consider re-creating my own station, wich is made of two sets 7937. I like yours a lot more!!

Thanks for sharing !

Greetz, LegoSjaak

[Fuzzylegobricks]

Great Job!

I love it and it fits in perfectly!

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Another great MOC there AussieJimbo Makes me want to get the new train station that much more! Do you have photos of your city on EB or brickshelf, etc? Keep up the great work!

[AussieJimbo]

Thanks everyone for your positive feedback, it's much appreciated.

I'm glad you like the colour scheme, it took a few rebuilds to make it fit in nicely but I'm happy I've got something I can now carry forward to the next station buildings.

Very nice, maybe you could add some railings on the stairs so poor minifig don't risk to fall on the tracks.

Yeah, that was a vexed question. You'll note from the existing bridges in 7937 that there are unprotected scale falls of at least 3 minifig meters anyway. The 7937 approach sort of addresses this by putting the second flight of stairs mostly in between the white truss supports but it just looked messy when I tried that on my stairs.

As my building is in the Lego universe rather than an attempt to model a real-world structure I've decided that the hand rails can be imaginary, as they are in 7937. That being said I'd be interested in ideas for incorporating a clean, lightweight handrail solution if you've got any specific suggestions.

Another great MOC there AussieJimbo Makes me want to get the new train station that much more! Do you have photos of your city on EB or brickshelf, etc? Keep up the great work!

Cheers mate.

I'll put together a few pics of my new layout soon.

:classic:

Edited January 19, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[lightningtiger]

I have one word 'AussieJ'......AWESOME !

Though I do agree that some hand rails for the staircase wouldn't go astray !

Fantastic colour selection, very realistic.......great work and Brick On 'AussieJimbo' !

[AussieJimbo]

Thanks for that LT. I'm really glad you like it.

I've worked out a handrail solution that looks OK. Now I've got to find enough pieces in the right colours.

I'll build one set to show but I don't know that I'll leave them on permanently.

:classic:

Edited January 19, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[AussieJimbo]

OK, here are a couple of options for a handrails.

4x1 tile handrails:

6x1 tiles attached at 1.5 and 4.5 studs.

_{Click images for larger versions.}

What do you reckon?

I'm still undecided on whether to use them or not.

:classic:

Edited January 19, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[mpec82]

OK, here are a couple of options for a handrails.

4x1 tile handrails:

6x1 tiles attached at 1.5 and 4.5 studs.

_{Click images for larger versions.}

What do you reckon?

I'm still undecided on whether to use them or not.

:classic:

I think i would do the opposite, securing it not on the bottom of the platform where it's the red shirt female minfig but instead on the existing railings.

Hope you can understand with the help of my super technical made with paint blueprints.

[AussieJimbo]

Yeah I can see what you're saying but like the 7937 set, the stairs don't hit the landing at the edge as you've shown but in the middle.

So to do what you're suggesting I'd have to extend everything out which messes up the proportions a little. The line of the roof is currently on the same line as the slope of the lower stairs which I think helps with the cohesion of the design.

Additionally there is no way of attaching to the existing handrails without either losing the 1x1 white round or making the handrails thicker.

Both those changes would mean you'd lose consistency with the stock stairs which I don't really want to modify.

Thanks for the idea though and I like the "blueprint". :-)

:classic:

Edited January 19, 2011 by AussieJimbo

[mpec82]

Yeah I can see what you're saying but like the 7937 set, the stairs don't hit the landing at the edge as you've shown but in the middle.

So to do what you're suggesting I'd have to extend everything out which messes up the proportions a little. The line of the roof is currently on the same line as the slope of the lower stairs which I think helps with the cohesion of the design. Additionally you'd lose consistency with the stock stairs which I don't really want to modify.

Thanks for the idea though and I like the "blueprint". :-)

:classic:

NP, pretty sure you'll find a better solution. Keep going with the MOCs.

[lostdriveway]

wow...

you always inspire me to do more stuff to my setup!

just wish I had spare cash right now to do it!

[AussieJimbo]

Thanks ldw, glad to be of service.

I built the basic structure of a stand alone signal box last night, needs some tweaking and finishing off but it's already looking pretty good

Should have something posted in a couple of days.

Looks like I'll need at least 3 more apple tree houses and 2 or 3 station sets to complete the whole station complex.

:classic: