Completed July 2018
Number of pieces: approximately 765
Scale: 1:43.5 O gauge (7mm = 1 foot)
Time to design and build: 7 months
Dimensions: approximately 32cm x 7cm
I’d intended having a go at building a Blackpool Brush Railcoach at some point in time, but due to the difficult shaping around the ends thought I would try some easier designs first. Having had a bit of a hiatus of building model trams from LEGO bricks, and with 2017 being the 80th anniversary of this design of railcoach being built for Blackpool Corporation Tramways by the Brush Electrical Engineering Company, it seemed as good a time as any to attempt designing this model. This particular one is based on number 630 in 1990s condition as preserved at Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire.
The design work was done in a similar manner to my first brick built tram model, using a scale drawing to build over to help keep everything as near to scale as I could. The drawing used for this project was purchased from Terry Russel Trams who produces scale tram drawings for modellers in 4mm, 7mm and gauge 1 scales.
Initial progress on the design was quite quick, but due to other projects and real life, working on this model was very stop start and took longer to complete than I was hoping. The main body sides used similar techniques to construct the lower body panels, windows and door section as on my previous model trams. The use of curved slopes at the ends of the side panels with bricks used sideways, meeting in the middle with small 1 x 1 slopes resulted in an almost perfect match for the pointed shape of the ends compared to the drawing, but presented it’s own difficulties physically joining the parts together.
The LEGO Company produce a lot of small parts now that include bar sections which fit parts with small clips and eventually a solution for holding the ends together using various types of these small bar and clip parts was found. The shaping on the widscreens proved difficult due to the way they should angle backwards and I was unable to find a way to recreate that without having large gaps in the construction. The final result as seen in the photos was the nearest I could manage at this scale.
^ A side view of the completed LEGO 1990s condition Blackpool Brush Railcoach standing on it’s display plinth. The final model of the tram is 7 studs wide and about 39 studs long. The base measures 16 studs wide by 64 studs long.
Apart from the angles of the windscreens, I feel the section above the windscreens isn’t quite right either. Where the destination is usually displayed should probably remain level with the rest of the roof, as the slight increase in height there on the real thing is very subtle and not really that noticable in the comparison photo further down the page. Other than that, I think I’ve managed a fair representation using the parts and colours available at the time of writing. As with my previous models, this is only a static model, so won’t run on any of the LEGO train sets, but it is the correct gauge for the tracks that LEGO produce. Due to the design of the bogies and side panels, there isn’t space for the bogies to rotate, so can’t negotiate any curves.
For displaying my LEGO Blackpool Brush Railcoach, I built a basic plinth for it to stand on that looks like a section of road with tram tracks running along it. The main road is buit with the bricks on their side, using 1 x 4 bricks with a groove running along the length of one side as the tram rails. I also added a small plaque at the front of the plinth to say what the model is.
^ A close up of one end of the model, showing the detail of the fenders and head and tail lights.
^ A top view of one end of the model showing the pointed shape.
^ A slightly more frontal view showing the detail on the end of the model.
^ A close up of the pantagraph, also showing the centre entrance doors and the trolley tower of my LEGO model of Blackpool Brush Railcoach 630.
^ For those that don’t know what Blackpool Brush Railcoach 630 looks like, here’s a comparison image with the real thing to the top and the LEGO model below.