Lego Trains!

A few weeks ago I went to the annual Great Train Show at the Puyallup Fairgrounds which features layouts from many local model railroad clubs in all sizes and gauges, from tiny Z scale all the way up to 1/8 scale. The Puget Sound Garden Railway Society layout is, of course, the most important one there. But of all the other (non-garden) railroad club layouts one of my favorites is the Puget Sound Lego Train Club. Because, Lego.

The layout is constantly changing so I always see some old things and some new things. Some impressive additions this year include a few skyscrapers and even more Starbucks branding than I recall seeing before. And I left the show with a desire to go home and make my own Lego creations. Below are a few pictures from the show layout.

Lumber mills are always cool, even when the “logs” are made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene.

Another view of the mill with a passing Starbucks train!

A very cool observatory in the forest. Astronomers using this telescope have discovered that Enceladus is actually made of ABS plastic.

A beautiful circus tent with a train encircling it.

A winter village includes a snowball fight between rebel fighters and Imperial Stormtroopers.

I had seen the Space Needle before but the three skyscrapers—Chrysler Building, Empire State Building and Willis Tower—are all new to me.

My favorite thing about this IKEA store is the inclusion of solar panels on the roof. The newly rebuilt IKEA store in Renton includes the largest solar rooftop array in the state of Washington: 3268 panels providing a max output of 1.13 megawatts.

So now that Thanksgiving has passed the dining room table has been taken over by my Lego trains. Here are a few photos of my (very small) layout. Some of the items are from sets and others are my own creations. We definitely need a larger table.

Santa’s Village includes a holiday train on display. Behind the village is a mountain that is actually a tunnel for the train. I would have made it longer but I ran out of green bricks.

A view of the city center.

The passenger train pulling into the station.

The fast freight at the cargo center includes a piggyback UPS truck filled with presents.

One of my favorite things to see passing on the main line through Seattle are 737 fuselages headed to the Boeing plant in Renton. My version supports a slightly smaller airplane.

Daric and me in a little blue house. I'm wearing overalls as I was just working on the garden train. Alki is dressed up as a Malamute as I don't have a small Lego dog.