An Industrial Layout on a Desktop: Martin Lanser’s Layout

Elroy Davis interviews Martin Lanser about his experience with the LEGO train hobby and his desktop sized industrial switching layout.

[BMR] Tell us a little bit about yourself and your layout.

[ML] I grew up with LEGO in the 70s. One reason why my mother bought LEGO was that she got tired of me taking apart all my other toys and other things in the house. At some point I was sent to boarding school, which pretty much ended the first phase of my fascination with LEGO. While I didn’t have access to LEGO, I did have access to erector sets like Meccano, Matador, and Fisher Technic (which was awesome!). Then came the 80s and my first computers. Then the 90s, my first daughter and I bought some LEGO again – for her, of course! Then another daughter in early 2000s. A bit more LEGO. Even some early Mindstorms stuff. But it seems I wasn’t able to transfer the “bug” to them.

Then lots of LEGO Friends for my younger daughter and now some serious LEGO Technic kits for me. More Mindstorms. More LEGO buildings for her. Once we got this house, I got a small office upstairs. The goal is to eventually finish the basement and build a proper office and LEGO room. Now, I should also mention that I’ve always been fascinated with trains and have built layouts for myself and in clubs in N, HO, O scale. I’ve even had LGB trains! And, of course, I’m into all things mechanical – if it moves, then it fascinates me. Trucks. Construction equipment. Robotics. Drones. So yes, I’m an ultra-geek. And a programmer.

Overview of the layout from the lead track and sidings.

Now, I work from home quite a bit and the whole LEGO thing started innocently enough with building a few Technic sets while I was sitting on conference calls. Then I purchased a few instructions for 1:17 scale trucks by Ingmar Spijkhoven (who unfortunately passed away recently). And building proper scaled and highly detailed models in LEGO really woke up the AFOL monster in me.

Then I found Brick Model Railroader and I saw that someone had built a nice version of an 8-wide EMD SW1200 and other super nice 8-wide models. And this is really what got me hooked on LEGO trains again – realistic 8-wide trains.

The SW1200 that serves the layout sits in the doorway of the engine house.

Obviously, now I had to build an EMD switcher and a BMR box car, and I needed a bit of track, and and bit more for some landscape, and a bit more for a warehouse and a bit more for an engine shop, and and and.

Looking down the track behind the buildings.

Of course, my office is only so big and there simply isn’t room for a large layout where I can run long trains. But there is enough space for an industrial yard. And given that I only build a bit here and there and mostly when I’m on long conference calls, an industrial layout is perfect – there are endless opportunity for adding details.

Looking through the roof of the warehouse. A keen eye can spot the LEGO track pins.

[BMR] What got you started with LEGO trains?

[ML] I built my first LEGO train in the early 70s – yes, I am that old, and no, you don’t grow out of it! But it was really seeing 8-wide scale train models that got me hooked again. And it’s in large part because of BMR and various awesome builders that I follow on Instagram.

[BMR] I noticed your use of TrixBricks switches. What has been your experience with using 3rd party parts in conjunction with LEGO brand parts?

[ML] In general these 3rd-party parts are very good. While I try to stay true to LEGO, I have no problem getting 3rd-party parts such as switches etc. After all, I’m a railfan first and a LEGO superfan second. And it’s not like I’m not buying tons of LEGO as it is. Now, as for quality, I’ve found that 3D printed parts from TrixBrixx and 4DBrix are pretty good. The main issue I’ve come across is that sometimes the studs are not perfectly shaped which can, in some cases, make it difficult to connect with other parts. This is especially true when trying to add tiles to simulate railroad ties, etc. The spacing can be off just a bit as well, which sometimes make for a super tight fit. I’m not sure how this happens, but my guess is that something happens when the material cools during the production process. But that’s a just a guess. Overall I’m very happy that these options exist and once I have a proper LEGO room I’ll definitely move up from R40 curves to maybe even R104s!

Looking from the lead track at the pond and siding. A TrixBrix three-way turnout is seen in the background.

[BMR] You’ve also built large-scale trucks in LEGO. Do you see similarities between building truck models in that scale, versus train models in a smaller scale?

[ML] I love building 1:17 scale models. One can add so many details and there is something impressive about these big models. It’s obviousness a bit more challenging achieving the same level of detail, even with 8-wide trains. But that challenge is also what makes this hobby fun. To me this is similar to 3D Tetris – the shapes and possible connections of the LEGO bricks essentially define the constraints of the game and it’s up to your creativity and imagination to take it as far as possible within those constraints.

[BMR] What are the plans for your layout in the future?

[ML] Immediate next steps are to add lots more details to the layout. More vehicles. More rail cars. More scenery. More. Stuff. The best part is that my younger daughter is now getting into this a bit and we’re spending time together adding details here and there. Personally I’m getting more and more fascinated with adding organic shapes – especially trees and other vegetation. It’s quite a challenge to make those things look realistic given the shapes available in LEGO.