My annual 12V layout

[Evans]

Hello !

I present you my Classic Town and 12V diorama of 6.80mx1.50m, with nearly 30m of 12V track installed, presented to the public at the exhibition in Parmain (north of Paris, France) on October 8 and 9, 2022.

The assembly time was very long, and I took 16 hours in all from the installation of the tables to the working of the 12V loop without any operation on my part. I realized that in spite of all the energy I could put, I have already reached the end of what I can do in terms of size in such a short time, all by myself, with a method requiring me to partially dismantle my sets for transport.

Having no space at home, I started from a plan elaborated from Bluebrick software, but I came up to a limitation of the software: it does not manage at all the complex wiring of a 12V layout. I went back to paper to plan the stop zones and to cut the circuit in 4 sectors to better distribute the power of the transformers and avoid slowdowns because my cars are quite heavy (I have a lot of MOCs).

This diorama represents Lego Town, a small industrial town 30 km north of Paris. 

 

For the record, the railroad came to Lego Town quite early, around 1860, and the industry started to prosper in a moderate way. The Lion d'Or Hotel Restaurant on the road to the castle is a testament to that time, and the factory owner's house still stands in front of the station. 

The goods station and the Sernam hall, a key place for the transport of goods in the city.

 

Lego Town has gone from a village to a small town, the medieval downtown area has been well preserved.

 

The SNCF depot is only used to park trains. Steam locomotives remain to build a railway museum in a future diorama.

 

The gas factory closed in the 60's and the gasometer is abandoned. 

 

The urban sprawl of the 60s and 70s, many houses were built around the old center.

 

A modern district has been built on the castle hill to accommodate the workers who commute to Paris. The SNCF VB2N rolling stock was put into circulation for the great comfort of commuters.

 

The highway bridge also allows minifigures to avoid the level crossing and the often congested downtown area of Lego Town. 

 

Lately, in 1980, the station was rebuilt on a functional and very modern building, allowing cars to park easily. It still watches the Paris-Ruhr Trans Europ Express to Germany (Molière and Parsifal) passing by, pulled by the SNCF CC40100. 

The castle was restored in the 70's and is used as a municipal museum where many historical reenactments are organized.

 

The goal for next year is to completely Frenchify the diorama by changing the Dutch stickers of the promotional sets.

Evans

[Feuer Zug]

Absolutely brilliant! Your massive diorama hearkens back to the classic days of LEGO that in many ways, I miss. So many sets are included, as well as plenty of custom creations that gives your town the proper feel. I liked seeing the classic space men hanging around too.

[Toastie]

6 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Absolutely brilliant!

Fully agreed!!! And studs everywhere - just fantastic. Can't get enough of the contents of the pictures. True LEGO.

(I'd put the lamp posts on the slope on some sort of hinges or the like to make them plumb ... but other than that, I am in awe)

Thank you very much for these wonderful pictures - and a fantastic layout!

All the best,
Thorsten

[BillytheKid]

Awesome .

[zephyr1934]

Party like it's 1985!!! That layout is amazing, impressive work

[GoHabsGo]

Wow! If only i knew there was this exhibition near Paris :(

Simply amazing!

[Dav1d]

I have a much smaller layout that takes me about 3 hrs to set up. You did well to set all that up in 16 hrs.

Lots of people ask how long did it take to build? - you build it over years - it's the setting up that takes the time.

Taking it down also takes a long time - but not so long.

[XG BC]

always interesting to see 12v in a realistic setting! nice!

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Wow, how many different thematic areas!
I like this circuit perfectly integrated into city activities.
The 12 volt has always been my first love and in some ways the new railway eras still fail to achieve so much automation!

[antp]

Really nice layout with that 80s vibe :)

I also still make 4-stud-wide cars like that, as I use these old road plates with narrow roads and wide sidewalks, as well as 12V rails, but all that with more modern buildings and trucks around.

Yours reminds me the Lego of my childhood :)

[Reker1000000]

Very, very impressive. It's rare to see a 12v layout on this level of scale and detail- what really makes it special for me is the amount of 12v train MOCs on the track! I love it, keep up the work!

[Evans]

Thank you all for your feedback !

On 10/19/2022 at 9:54 PM, Toastie said:

(I'd put the lamp posts on the slope on some sort of hinges or the like to make them plumb ... but other than that, I am in awe)

Good idea ! I would like to enlight some lampposts for a future smaller layout.

On 10/21/2022 at 8:04 PM, zephyr1934 said:

Party like it's 1985!!!

I wanted a more 80s feel, so I had to skip 90s sets. In fact, I have troubles building in proper 90s style, as most of what I want to do can be done in 80s style.

On 10/22/2022 at 9:08 AM, GoHabsGo said:

Wow! If only i knew there was this exhibition near Paris :(

Where are you from? There are often exhibitions, but more usually in the far suburbs. I'm from north of Paris, so I usually have to travel south or west.

On 10/30/2022 at 10:22 AM, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Wow, how many different thematic areas!
I like this circuit perfectly integrated into city activities.

I really wanted to have the feeling of a town centered on its railway and industrial economy, so from this base I tried to dress a sort of history of its developpement to stay coherent. And as I don't like having a unidirectional loop as everyone does, I wanted this mainline with two return loops. It works well and kids are always excited to see the train going in the tunnel. Level crossing is also very important for them. I have ideas to make the back part higher, but I would lose the crossing.

On 11/15/2022 at 8:40 AM, antp said:

I also still make 4-stud-wide cars like that, as I use these old road plates with narrow roads and wide sidewalks, as well as 12V rails, but all that with more modern buildings and trucks around.

There are so much possibilities with 4 wide, and it's also a warranty to keep a unified scale across the layout. I don't like the facvt cars in City theme are 4 and 6 wide, and some big wheeled vehicles are 8w, which is so oversized compared to the 2003-2013 City I grew up with.

On 11/15/2022 at 9:43 PM, Reker1000000 said:

what really makes it special for me is the amount of 12v train MOCs on the track! I love it, keep up the work!

I indeed rarely see many 12V MOCs, MODs are common, but true work to reproduce real prototypes is not common. My goal is to use all the small locomotives sets as private shunting locomotives, whereas the mainline will run my SNCF MOCs with electric and diesel machines. I'm also working on some French steam locomotives, to go along my French donnerbüchsen.

[lego3057]

Best 12v layout I´ve seen. Some of the trains and buildings are awesome. I had the first 4,5v train (112) and I grew up looking at the 720 (first 12v train) in the shop, that I never had.

[0815Tanaka]

Amazing layout! 12v trains are not common in Japan where I live, so I'm envious of an exhibit like this 

[Paperinik77pk]

Well..there are literally TONS of ideas, both for trains and buildings. Details everywhere!!!  All these pictures, with some details on the most interesting models can easily become a "7777"-ish book!!! 

That "nez cassè" locomotive is beautiful,plus there are lots of wagons, long ones, short ones - passenger and freight...

Two things I particularly like are the gray shutters used horizontally on the yellow wagon and that shunter at Sernam station! 

SPECTACULAR!!!

Edited December 3, 2022 by Paperinik77pk

[Reza]

Contemplating at this layout, I became speechless, while think all these MOCs are awesome and at the same time, their style is to some MOCS I had seen.... then I checked the user name: EVANS! :-)
Great job as usual @Evans