Millyard Project Progresses as Completion Nears

Members of NELUG gathered at the SEE Science Center in Manchester, NH to participate in the latest building event, Phase VIII, held on Nov. 11-12, 2006.  Building concentrated on the completion of several buildings that were partially done either during the last Phase or in the interim at The LEGO Company in Enfield, CT.  Building focused on completion of the old Courthouse, the Cigar Factory, more canal buildings, an entrance to the Millyard where workers would enter and leave from, various rides and amusements for the Pine Island Park, machinery for the Jefferson Building (done as a cut-out to see the inside of one of the mills), and lots of carriages and horse drawn wagons.

The Millyard exhibit, a scale replica of the mill buildings along the Merrimack River and adjacent parts of Manchester, NH around 1900, is a 22’x95’ permanent display built entirely out of LEGO bricks.  “The Deck”, as the exhibit where the LEGO buildings are placed is called, has come a long way since we first began working on this project over 2 years ago.  Most of the space on the deck now has something on it, and with the trains running and it fully painted we are ready for a final surge of activity to complete the project.  Two new additions to the exhibit are a platform where visitors can get up higher to get a better view of the display, and a wide screen TV to see the camera display from the train as it travels through the Millyard.  All of this is in preparation for the official dedication on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006.  We’re almost done, but we have so much left to do!

By invitation of the Middlebury, Vermont Chamber of Commerce, NELUG put on a great show July 22nd and 23rd at Vermont Brick Blast 2006.

View the event gallery here.

NELUG members from all over converged on Middlebury, Vermont for the town's first Vermont Brick Blast event.

Despite rainy weather, the spirit of the crowd visiting Vermont Brick Blast 2006 was not dampened. Children and adults of all ages came in waves to marvel at the creations of NELUG members, as well as to participate in BrikWars games, robotics demonstrations, and building and MOC contests sponsored by the Middlebury Chamber of Commerce.

Brick Blast 2006 gave the club a chance to totally let loose, with an expanded train layout, a moonbase layout, MOCs of all shapes and sizes, as well as a work-in-progress automated model of a working quarry.

MOCs on display by NELUG ranged from the well-detailed Jabberwocky by Jason Wolfson, to the club's beautifully done giant mosaic of the Boston skyline.

As usual, the train layout was a big hit, with a nicely done residential area at one end, leading up to the towering buildings of the city on the other end. In between the two was a newly added river section, with several types of bridges spanning the water, allowing both rail and automotive traffic to cross. Adjacent to the city was a busy, work-filled rail yard, with trains of many shapes, sizes, and eras filling the sidings. Running the length of the layout, with the city in the background, was NELUG's famous carnival section, filled with spinning, twirling, and tilting rides that lit up the eyes of visitors young and old. Traffic between the carnival and the city was handled by monorail, which in addition to the layout's four independent train loops, provided transportation to minifigs far and wide.

The Millyard Phase III, went off without a hitch! Read more to see a couple of pictures and to watch time lapse photography of the building sessions.

New things have appeared at the Millyard, and you'll be excited to see them!

Back in the early summer of 2001 NELUG was asked if they would like to participate in the GMC - New England Home Show in Boston Massachusetts. After some talk we decided to do the show. The theme of the show was "The Big Dig"(1).

Because the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge is the center piece of this project it was decided that a "near" Minifig scale version of the Bridge would be the center piece of our display. The bridge is made up of over 20,000 LEGO pieces, is 17 feet long and 7 1/2 feet tall. Approximately 300 man hours went into making the bridge. Of which 100 were design and setup and 200 were actual construction.