{"id":108041,"date":"2020-02-01T08:55:17","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T13:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/?p=108041"},"modified":"2020-02-01T15:05:50","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T20:05:50","slug":"legoworld-2019-event-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/01\/legoworld-2019-event-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Legoworld 2019: Event Report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the LegoWorld 2018 Report<\/a> Raised promised that somewhere in March 2020 the 2019 article would be published. Since Enrico considered that to be a bit late, he volunteered to write the 2019 article, but in 2019. However, since Raised was supposed to edit, it only goes online now. So you guys know who to blame now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div>
Choochoos and modern Electrics, everything is possible in Legos!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Event<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LegoWorld is an 8-day event (9 if you include the pre-show set-up day) and is held annually during the Dutch autumn break. The event is the biggest Lego event here in The Netherlands and attracts around 100.000 visitors every year. The event is held in Utrecht and is thereby located in the center of the Netherlands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those 8 days ask a lot of our trains, and since the layout is a rather big one and the trains run for multiple hours straight, it asks a lot of our models. They tend to break down every now and then, but also batteries need to be charged. Due to the huge amount of young visitors, we want to have at least 2 trains running at any point, so this event not only ask a lot our trains but also a lot of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Oops\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
One of the casualties we had. Raised his NS 6400 derailed in the corner located in the old section of Tijn his city. <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Team and the Layout they built<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team this year was made up by 6 people: Raised<\/a>, UrbanErwin<\/a>, Tijn<\/a>, Gijs<\/a>, Esran<\/a> and Enrico<\/a>. We each contributed a different part of the layout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"The<\/a>\n<\/div>
The Heroes of Legoworld 2019: Erwin, Raised, BigDeady, Tijn, Enrico and Esran. Gijs isn’t in it because he took the picture, right Gijs? <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, we don\u2019t have our own tables (yet), so we are always depending on the tables provided by the venue. Most of the time these aren\u2019t properly aligned at all, but luckily we got more than enough beer coasters to get this fixed. Hooray for beer coasters!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div>
How many Minifigs do you need to fix a bit of plastic shaped like a Utilities Box?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The plan for the layout was different compared to last year, as we decided to not re-use the diorama style. Instead, we went for the oldschool circle layout, just like most other LTC\u2019s do.  This solved two problems: Less track necessary for the staging yard, and all track would be on MILS level instead of having to build a ramp to go down to table level. That system didn\u2019t work out properly last year, because even the smallest incline meant a lot of stalling of our engines, partly due to the way they are build, partly due to flawed powertrains *cough Raised cough* . We christened this our \u201cChristmas tree set up\u201d from a joke Tijn made when we came up with the layout design, because it looks an awefull lot like something that runs around a Christmas tree. Or, in our case, a concrete pillar\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An overhead view provided by BlueBrick, the track planning software we use for LegoWorld.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s\ndivide the layout for this article into 4 sections: North, East, South and\nWest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North\nsection was a typical Dutch piece of landscape, flat, green and some cows, a typical\nDutch Polder in fact. This piece was mostly built by Raised, who built a beautiful\ncurve into the track, so it gave a smooth and \u201cprototypical\u201d presentation of\nour landscape. The last piece of the North side, all the way into the North\nWest part was built by Gijs and the r104 curves in the North East side were\nbuilt by Enrico, with Tijn providing the small siding with the baseplates surrounding\nthat. The North West side had a small factory with a siding, which led into the\nShadow Station, from where we could easy do the many repairs that were\nnecessary for this event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
BigDaedy’s Traxx and Dosto in the Polder Landscape<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div>
The Netherlands is flat. Like a Pancake. Sorry for that. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Even Enrico’s ICM-0 ran for several minutes!<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

East<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The East section was Bahnbetriebswerk Neukirche by Enrico<\/a>, which turned out a bit bigger than expected: 1\/3rd<\/sup> bigger than it was, in fact. The Bahnbetriebswerk was connected in the North east by a triple switch made by TrixBrix and the amazing R104 curves by Brick Tracks. The mainline continued on the back side of the Bahnbetriebswerk to the South East part of the layout. In the middle was a turntable with engine shed and a couple of platforms where \u201cpassengers\u201d could get on and off. The Bhw had everything to keep a steam engine running, except for batteries\u2026 Continuing into the South East part the Bahnbetriebswerk transformed into a museum line which split up into 2 parts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
<\/a>Bahnbetriebswerk NeuKirche from above<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Both going into a forest bit where one stopped, the other going into the Esran\u2019s amazing Steam Pump and small Railway station. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esran\u2019s Steam Pump connected into Tijn his beautiful city and Railway Station in French Style, all in beautiful MDF masonry bricks. His city starts at the old Railway station Esran made in the South East part. From there some amazing winding streets and old buildings went down onto the main street where his station is located. Due to the difference in height between his city and the rest of the layout it has got a cool and realistic feel to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tijn’s Station and City on the hills<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Passing the\nstation is the grand warehouse where the parking is located for the station.\nBecause the parking and a road disappear into the background it looked like the\nlayout had a lot of dept to it. From there the mainlined continued pass the\nlast couple of buildings onto the bridge made by UrbanErwin. The bridge might\nbe simple in its design but it\u2019s 100% made from Lego and didn\u2019t break down for\nthe entire week! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"It's<\/a>\n<\/div>
OK, it did break down, but only after Erwin threw it onto his own layout (and Raised his eanos\u2026)! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

West<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The West\npart of the layout is where our Shunting Yard was located. Here visitors could\nsee most of our rolling stock which wasn\u2019t running (or which fell apart) and\nchildren where able to ask: \u201cwhy isn\u2019t that train running?\u201d. Almost all of the\nswitches were motorized in this part. Your were able to control the switches by\nusing an IR remote (only bad thing was that some off our trains where set to\nthe same IR channel). Next year we are just going to use Polarity Switches\ninstead, but it did give a cool vibe to it, and felt very realistic. The South\nWest side had some big trees which created a great photo location. The North\nWest side had a small harbor scene made by Gijs and my ICM \u201ckoploper\u201d was set\nthere with the scaled drawings in front, showing the public that our trains are\nbuilt in scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div>
The West Side of the layout, Enrico was just fixing\/breaking the yellow NS 1600<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div>
A typical day in the Yard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div>
“No Kids, nothing is running”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Special Guest:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\nwe invited a special guest, BigDaedy and his MOC\u2019s. He joined us from Friday\nafternoon onto the end of the Sunday. It was great having him around and\ncomparing his MOC\u2019s with ours. He also had some great advice for Enrico\u2019s\nBahnbetriebswerk, apparently all of the signals weren\u2019t placed correctly. That\ncan happen to everyone, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is\nsmall piece about LegoWorld from his point of view:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greetings\nfellow train heads and readers of BMR. My name is Raimund, but I’m usually\nknown as “BigDaedy” on the internet. Thanks to a special invitation\nby the Dutch Lego train community I was able to participate at this year\u2019s LegoWorld\nin Utrecht. They asked me to write a brief summary of my experiences during my\ntrip or let’s just say about my adventure going to Utrecht.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now what\nwas so special about LegoWorld Utrecht 2019 for me? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First,\nthis would be the first time for me to meet the masters of Dutch train building\nand their mocs in real life. Then it would’ve been the second time ever for me\nto be part of an event like this, the first time being at an event in a different\ncountry (since it’s still within the EU it\u2019s not really a big deal) and the\nvery first time to actually see how my MOCs would perform on a larger scale\nlayout, other than a circle of R120 lying on my bedroom floor. So, there is\nroom for lots of things to go wrong, but fortunately in the end everything\nturned out perfectly. As a matter of fact, this weekend has been one of my most\npleasant experiences so far in my life. I’m still baffled and overwhelmed by all\nthe hospitality, generosity and overall cheerfulness I’ve received by all the\npeople and amazing builders I’ve met during my stay. Please let me take this\nopportunity to express my deepest thanks to the whole Dutch community – You\nguys rock and make this such a wonderful hobby!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nbeing said, let’s get back on the road again. LegoWorld in Utrecht is actually\nreally easy to reach. You stumble out of the central station and all you’ve got\nto do is to literally walk across the street and you’re already inside. Raised\npicked me up at the entrance of the show and guided me directly towards the\nlayout, giving me lots of info and advice on what to expect during the next 48\nhours. I guess it’s safe to say, that I must’ve experienced some sort of\nsensory overload during my first few minutes at LegoWorld. Strolling through\ncountless amazing builds felt like walking in a wonderland and left me stunned.\nI think that’s what an unsupervised child must feel like in an “all you\ncan eat” candy store. Anyhow the rest of the herd gave me a wonderful\nwelcome and showed me around the layout, pointing out all the little details\nscattered around. Now it was time for me to unwrap all of the nice things I’ve\nbrought with me. Luckily my rolling stock didn’t take any major damage, so I\nwas quickly set up and ready to go. The first trial run of my consist was\nindeed very successful. As a matter of fact, my Traxx was so reliable and fast\nthat it blew over some of the foam boards at the side of the track due to its\nairstream. Partly cause of this incident a speed limit was imposed for it, as\nthe other guys were quite “scared” of the speed of my train and\nworried that it might derail in the curves. Luckily for me, my design proved to\nbe quite sturdy, I’ve lost less than ten parts during the two days and my\ntrains seemed to handle the inevitable accidents quite well. Most derailments\nactually happened cause someone’s *cough Raised cough* mocs lost vital parts\nduring their laps on the layout. I really enjoyed discussing all the different\ndesigns and techniques used on both the rolling stock and the layout, so I’ve spent\nmost of the time taking mental notes on what designs to steal and incorporate\nin possible future builds or collabs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div>
Raised and BigDaedy discussing the different designs they have. <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the\nend of the day there was an official part by TLC. Two Lego Star Wars designers,\nJan Neergaard Olesen & Kurt Kristiansen, held a presentation about the\ncreative process and how a set is designed what changes it has to go through in\norder to be released to the public. Very interesting behind the scenes\ninformation and we’ve even got a sneak peek on what’s coming up next. Once the\npresentation was over, the attention shifted to the more community related part\nof the evening. There were speed building challenges and of course every\nparticipant received a large Lego gift. Sadly, I didn’t get one, as I was only\na guest, but this will surely change next year!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was also able to get an autograph of the two Lego designers on my engine. How awesome is that? Looks a little bit like graffiti but a lot cooler!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Thumbs up for the Traxx!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saturday\nturned out even better than the day before. A seemingly never-ending crowd of\npeople, especially children gathered around the layout fascinated by the moving\ntrains, the huge engine shed, Tijns city, Esrans factory and all the tasty\nlittle details on the countryside. Since I don’t speak any Dutch, it was kind\nof difficult to answer the questions of the visitors, but there was always one\nof the guys around who patiently translated everything into English for me.\nBeing a little know-it-all, I also used the chance to point out a few mistakes\non Enrico’s Bahnbetriebswerk, mostly regarding the signaling. Sorry mate\ncouldn’t help myself!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overall performance of the rolling stock was quite good. Only a few crashes happened and none of them were really disastrous (for me). We also had lots of room for trying different compositions of the trains and comparing the individual performances of the locos. Of course, this led to debates on what traction system is superior, like geared L-motors or ordinary train motors and the consent that ball bearings should become mandatory. UrbanErwins automated train operation was also very fascinating for me. Looks like there is indeed some potential within the new PU system.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once the\nshow was over for the day Tijn invited us over to his place, where he and his\nwife cooked us a delicious dinner (compliments to the cooks once again!). More\nstories were told, we drank some apple cider, which I’ve brought from home,\ntogether and we laughed and laughed and laughed. A perfect ending to an awesome\nday, if I might say so.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the\nsun rose on this beautiful Sunday morning, I was hesitant to wake up. Being in\nUtrecht amongst all these wonderful people was so enjoyable that I’ve really\nwanted to stay until the end of the show. Sadly, I had to be back at work on\nMonday, so I spent the morning filling up with my mind with more pleasurable\nmemories, until I had to catch my train back home on the afternoon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nthat’s how my adventure at Utrecht went by. Thanks for sticking through until\nthe end and I wish happy building to everyone out there.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheers,  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raimund<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Line-up\u2019s:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday\nnight we decided to stay a bit longer and before we noticed, we started from\nlining-up all the TRAXX locomotives at the show, into sorting all of our trains\nby their colors. This resulted up to 2 line-ups: the red and the yellow one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red-Line-Up <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Only Red Allowed!<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the\ninside corner there was from front to back: A Snngs made by Urban Erwin, 2 double-decker\ncoaches made by BigDaedy, a Eanos made by Raised and the red 1600 made by\nRaised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the\noutside corner there was a 0-6-0 Tank Engine made by Esran, a Vectron and TRAXX\nin 6 wide made by Gerard Salden, BigDaedy his 2 TRAXX locomotives and as last\nagain Raised his \u201cFYRA\u201d TRAXX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the\nSiding going into the Shadow Station were Raised\u2019s NS 6400 and Enrico\u2019s V100. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yellow Line Up<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Yellow and Blue Line-up<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lets start at the front and work our way into the back. On the front siding: Enrico\u2019s ICM \u201ckoploper\u201d (because it needed a lot of repairs, he wasn\u2019t confident enough to place the entire train at this line-up).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the\nsecond siding: Tijn his Sik, Raised his yellow 1600 and a ICR coach in 6 wide\nmade by Gerard Salden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the\nThird siding: The IC Direct TRAXX made by Gerard Salden, the NS 1100 provided\nby a member of our crew from the layout last year (Christiaan), the NS 1200 by\nUrbanErwin, and the Plan W coach by Christiaan again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the\nForth siding: Mat 64 (\u201cApenkop\u201d) by UrbanErwin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the outer\ncorner: Enrico\u2019s NS 2454 locomotive and Raised his ICR 8 wide coaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traxx line up<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third of the special line-ups held at the event was the Traxx line up. 2 from BigDaedy and 1 from Raised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
That’s how you make pictures!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Backdrop:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year we learned a very important lesson. To get the best view of the layout itself, it a good thing to not be able to see the chaos behind the layout, aka the repairing of broken trains and us eating lunch. Last year we fixed this problem by using a blue linen backdrop with wooden rods to keep it all as straight as possible. It looked fine, but just didn\u2019t work as planned: It was too instable due to its own weight, not so easy to set up, and mostly a bit too high. So, if you were standing in the front of the layout you couldn\u2019t see what happened at the back of the layout, which isn\u2019t that handy if you know 50% of our track was behind the layout last year\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"LEGOWORLD<\/a>\n<\/div>
White Foamboard backdrops. Fixing pictures since 2019!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, we\nfixed that problem this year by using foam plates as a backdrop. These were held\ntogether by using Lego pieces on the top and the bottom. The provided a great\nbackdrop so that visitors were able to see the train running on the layout but\nnot our lunch. However the organization managed to placed us in a way that we\nhad 2 concrete polls right in the middle of our layout, obstructing our view,\nso trains were still able to stop running for 5 minutes before we found them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This picture made from above truly shows how busy LegoWorld can get, this day we sold out with 15000 visitors<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Impression of the layout.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are\nsome more pictures\/videos of the layout for you to enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n