The ultimate outdoor railroad.

[TurboOne]

[wow] This is in my hometown of San Diego. [8D] [8D] [8D] [8D]

http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/001/382llhzu.asp

The place is awesome. Besides trains, there is moving ships, cars, two parades, a talking farm, just an amazing layout. [:D]

Enjoy. [:)]

Who else has seen this layout ??????

Tim

[Anonymous]

Tim, never saw that one, but there was a Lego Train layout last weekend at the Columbus, Ohio Gats show. They even had a big table with a box of Legos for people to build with. I guess it would be a scratchbuilders delight!

[Anonymous]

Love San Diego its right at the bottom of my list of the top ten cities in the world that i have visited. and only one of two in America, the other is Honolulu.

Top 3

1/ Sydney NSW. Australia
2/ Vienna Austria
3/ Singapore.


regrds ian

[TurboOne]

I really thought there would be more comments on Legoland. The picture show the central station complete with escalators, and multi levels of stuff, food, baggage, etc...

Also the sheer size of the models, there are many different countries modeled.

One of the most impressive models was Mt. Rushmore, it even talked as you took your boat ride past it.

Have you all been here and I am just the last one to check it out.. .?????????

Tim

[Anonymous]

My idea of the ultimate layout, is first it would have to be about 1000 M or 1 Km or 400 '
long at least. Be fully controlled with an elaborate DCC system like MTS.
Have plenty of tunnels, bridges and cuttings.

Running water; and a water fall would be highly regarded.

I would love a rural set out with meidaeval castle. stone viaduct and similar strucrtures.

Plenty of plants and botanical type stuff and even a few back drops.

With part of my new section working well, the switching has become so complex I would like it to be controlled by a computer for some operations.

I would also like several people to be able to control loco speed and direction and switching of points (switches) as well.


Regards ian

[Anonymous]

Tough to beat the layout at Fairplex in Pomona, CA. Free parking and admission (donations accepted ) on the second Sunday of the month.

http://www.fgrr.org/index.html

http://www.girr.org/girr/gjrr/gjrr.html

[Anonymous]

I have seen video of that layout and in some ways it is terrific but it leaves a lot to be desired in the way of control. I think it was very good 20 years ago but needs to be updated a bit like Disneyland.


Rgds ian

[TurboOne]

Ian, Disneyland is updated. It is called Californina Adventure. Totally different rides, different feel than Disneyland. Especially the tower of terror, Awesome.

And I had a blast at Lego land, the building are incredible, the running trains, the boats, the parades, all awesome.

Tim

[vsmith]

Ian, how old was the video you saw of the fairplex layout? from 20 years ago? I hope it was made in the last 3 years or so. That original layout is long gone, replaced with a modern G gauge layout, they have done a terrific job over the last few years reviving the old layout gardens. That layout now has one of the best control setups I've ever seen. All the controls for power and track are in a "control room" along with an enclosed fiddle yard and a covered staging area. A few of the original Gauge 3 engines and cars are on display inside the workshop. i would agree that its one of the best out there.

[aljay]

WOW, Lego Land looks great, I'm heading down to the basement to find the kids old lego blocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Yes it was a very old video of that layout and I guess they have done with it just what i thought should be done.

I thought that i had been to Disneyland only recently but when i think back it was about 10 years agao. My wife has been there twice and I have been to Disneyworld in Florida and truly we were quite disappointed it was really down at heel in comparisen.

Has anyone been to Disneyland in Japan or France, we will be in both those countries in July and September respectivel this year and was wondering if they were worth the visit.


Rgds Ian

[TurboOne]

Update on Lego Land layout. They reopened NYC in miniland. They built the most incredible building. The Freedom Tower.

Here is the update. I should have a picture tomorrow.

Years before the real Freedom Tower rises at the site of the devastated World Trade Center, LEGOLAND has constructed the monumental skyscraper completely out of LEGO® bricks. Unlike the Freedom Tower in New York City which will take four years to build, LEGOLAND California’s structure took four months to create.

“The Freedom Tower was a challenge for LEGOLAND California’s Master Model Builders to create, but we are proud to give our guests the opportunity to see this historical and sentimental structure,” says president and general manager, John Jakobsen. Sprouting 28 feet into the sky, the Freedom Tower is the largest building ever created in Miniland USA. Designers of the actual Freedom Tower expect it to become the world’s tallest building at 1,776 feet – the symbolic year of America’s freedom with the Declaration of Independence.

Starting in December 2004, LEGOLAND California’s Master Model Designer, William Webb, in collaboration with a fellow Master Model Builder from Denmark, began sketching the design and creating a 3D computer model of the Freedom Tower using published photos of the winning design. The 1/70 scale model includes a “wind farm” in the top portion of the tower, which in the actual structure will use wind-harvesting turbines to generate 20 percent of the building’s electricity. Clear LEGO bricks are used in the lower portion of the building to represent glass and the overall structure will echo the profile of the Statue of Liberty. The spire on top represents the Torch of Freedom, the building itself represents her body and the wind farm represents her head and crown.

Master Model Builders decided to build the Freedom Tower in four sections: the body, the roof, wind farm and spire. These sections incorporate a main office space, observation deck, restarurant and event space, wind turbines and observation platform. At night, the LEGO Freedom Tower will truly shine as fiber optic lights in the roof and spire illuminate the building. Two memorial reflecting pools have been built in the footprint of the World Trade Center. The spire is eight feet tall and took one designer three days to build. The observation deck and roof took an entire week and a half to build and stands three feet high.

Can you image 28 feet of Lego's

Tim

[vsmith]

Sorry to say the Freedom Tower will be a sad shadow of its original design.

Daniel Libeskind's original design was a more responsive and better organized master plan, he won a major international design compition to find a replacement design that would strike a balance between the commercial aspects of the site and the memory of the tragic event of 9/11, however the owners of the WTO site went around Libeskinds back and hired another more corporate architect to design a $$$ generator (IOW Max SqFt for most rentable building area, screw the public and [censored] the notion that anything tragic took place here) Needless to say, when the families of the victims and the winning architect found out they were horrified and outraged that the owners could be so callous (and they really were acting like complete a$$holes about it) They essentially said "Thank you Mr Libeskind, now get out of the way" He didnt, and eventually the fight went all the way to the state govenors office who essentailly ordered the owner to hold to the original agreements made during the competition to incorporate Libeskind's design into the final scheme, after a contentious period of redesign which Mr Libeskind was treated pretty awefully by the owners and there architect, a compromise was finally reached...Big Box with a spire stuck on one side. Libeskinds influence can be seen in it but it was hardwon.

[vsmith]

FYI

the original winning competition entry, smaller scale and more responsive to the site and surrounding neigborhoods.


Original Plaza design

http://www.wtcsitememorial.org/images/fin6/sig.jpg

this is the compromise Big Box design that has neigbors complaining it will block out the sun and overly dominate the south end of the city even worse than the original WTO!

http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/Images/US/NY/NYC/FreedomTower-001.jpg


BTW before 9/11 the WTO towers were almost universally despized for there shear overlooming mass that was sooo far out of scale with anything around it. Only after 9/11 did the city rally around it as a symbol of the city.

(converted some to links, photos wouldnt show.)

[underworld]

Impressive! Amazing what you can do with a few million dollars worth of LEGOS!

underworld

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

WOW

[TurboOne]

The Lego land version I think only has the tower, but I never got close enough to see if the lower building were there. Next trip I will see. Also found out the trains in the layout are 1:20 scale, just made out of legos.

Tim

[underworld]

TurboOne Are you able to make a video???

underworld

Easter Easter Easter Easter Easter!!!!!

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[TurboOne]

I can. I have to find my cleaning tape as I have some drop outs. But the next trip up to Legoland I will record. It is awesome up there, Yes I am a BIG kid.

Tim