Hi, I'd really like to build my hometown's train station, first in LDD and then for real. Problem is; I'm totally new and I've got a lot on my plate (family, job, etc.) so I don't have a lot of time to waste. So maybe some people here can take a minute to help?

I've got the latest and greatest LDD installed and also LDD Manager. I'm quite proficient with 'puters but I don't know LDD at all. I can read documentation but prefer just to fiddle around with it, if it's a steep learning curve then I'll bow out early but it looks like something I could get my head around w/o too much trouble.

My first question is; about how large in bricks would you say this station should be? I'm planning a train layout with some modulars and probably some City stuff (vehicles and the like). Modulars are 32 bricks wide is that correct? I'm thinking it should be about 48 wide? Does that sound about right or do you think it should be larger?

This station is in Kirkwood, Missouri USA and is on the National Historic Register BTW. Also, the Amtrak still stops there. America's largest railroad museum is a few miles west of here on the same line.

Ok, thanks a lot! Cheers, Joe

Hi Bjtpro I have made a rough base plan which looks about right in terms of scale.

I hope this might help you.

A frontal and a side view, together with a view from the top could be very helpful.

You could think to adopt a useful instrument, Griddy, you can find it in the "Index Topic" among cad utilities.

The size of the station depends on your scale! For minifigs the scale is different than for micro scale! So since you talk about a train layout, you should estimate the size to the heights and width of the minifig.

Hi Bjtpro I have made a rough base plan which looks about right in terms of scale.

I hope this might help you.

You are a fine human being Alasdair Ryan, many thanks. It's big! 68 bricks wide if I'm counting correctly (no easy thing to do with a three year old running around). That looks about right though, I was thinking that 48 wasn't wide enough.

A frontal and a side view, together with a view from the top could be very helpful.

You could think to adopt a useful instrument, Griddy, you can find it in the "Index Topic" among cad utilities.

Thanks for the heads up about Griddy. I'll check it out. Also, I will do a fly over in my helicopter and get back to you with additional pics, ha ha! Well, maybe Google Earth would be more practical? Let me see what I can come up with.

Cheers and thanks again, Joe

This seems more of a MOC project, then a pure Digital Designer question/issue/project (even though digital tools can be really helpful in the creative/planning phase of a MOC project).

I'm moving this over to the Trains forum here on Eurobricks, where I think there might be a lot more people that can help out

When Building a new Moc, as you've found one of the initial stumbling blocks is the scale. It's often useful to choose a critical part to scale your build around. For steam trains wheels are often chosen since they only come in a few sizes. For buildings you might choose a particular door or window.

Be careful using a minifig since their dimensions don't match human dimensions very well, though you can choose different vertical and horizontal scales.

I assume the griddy application allows you to superimpose a LEGO grid over a photo, which will help you to scale the rest of the building to your critical part.

Many LEGO train layouts compress buildings while trying to maintain their essential features, especially for very large buildings, since otherwise they can become very large (and hence prohibitively expensive). True to scale buildings can allow for much more detail though so can be very impressive. Large blank walls can look very dull though so it can be a disadvantage too depending on the prototype.

Good luck with your build, it looks an interesting building.

This seems more of a MOC project, then a pure Digital Designer question/issue/project (even though digital tools can be really helpful in the creative/planning phase of a MOC project).

I'm moving this over to the Trains forum here on Eurobricks, where I think there might be a lot more people that can help out

Ok, I was just about to get to the LDD stuff but you are the boss...

Anyway, here's a Google Map link. It's the building marked "Kirkwood Amtrak"

Right across the street you can see the brick building with "Hay Grain Flour & Feed Mills" painted in large letters along the top. This building is about the same size as a Modular (I would imagine) so I guess 68 bricks for the train station would be about right?

Ok, I was just about to get to the LDD stuff but you are the boss...

Anyway, here's a Google Map link. It's the building marked "Kirkwood Amtrak"

Right across the street you can see the brick building with "Hay Grain Flour & Feed Mills" painted in large letters along the top. This building is about the same size as a Modular (I would imagine) so I guess 68 bricks for the train station would be about right?

My take:

68 wide is huge! Depending on the total size of your layout I would try to get the most important features of the station into a 48 wide station. It's much more practical for moving around as well if it's on a single (48x48) baseplate. You could for instance loose the little side extension to make it symmetrical.

It depends on what you want to achieve - whether it's realism or function within a useable layout that you want the most. The size of the windows and doors might be what it all comes down to. I'm doing a similar project and found trial and error with real bricks to be as helpful as LDD when it comes to significant design issues. I also always find LEGO seems bigger in reality than in photos or computer sketch ups.

Ok thanks, it's all useful and appreciated. Now I gotta figure out how this LDD works! Doesn't look too hard but will take time.

Having built one very large train station last year (see the separate Heuston Station thread) and a second smaller station for Skaerbaek 2012 I would strongly agree with the comment above that you should start with figuring out how wide the windows are to be and work from there. I agree that 64 studs sounds way too large.

Judging from your picture I'd guess that you'd probably first try a 4 stud wide window with perhaps an additional 2 studs to allow a frame to be recessed from the wall. If you leave a gap of 4/6 studs between the three end windows and proportionately work from there you'll probably get a width of just under 40 studs before any protruding bits such as canopies and the curved section of wall.

As I learned you should be thinking modular at an early stage. Two or more 48x48 baseplates aren't easily boxed especially if the station is high so you might want to build each section (or even wall) separately and attach together when displaying. Any canopies etc. and other delicate bits should be completely removable for transportation.

One other point to consider when building train stations is the platform height. The first station I built sits on a board that is about 4 plates thick so the 'platforms' had some height, although not much. It wasn't a priority at the time but it still annoys me. My more recent project has platforms that are much higher to line up train doors a bit better without using steps up to a raised platform.

Hope this helps. Train stations aren't always as easy as they might first appear but the results can be fantastic when the right building is chosen as the subject matter.