It's difficult to believe that I'm writing my 4th article about the one-of-kind LEGO Train fan event Bauspielbahn-Treffen 2024 (BSBT)--and my 3rd as a participant! Ever since learning about this event's existence, I have been a committed fan and supporter. As a reminder, BSBT is a LEGO fan event dedicated exclusively to trains, and takes place in the charming town of Schkeuditz, just 12 km northwest of Leipzig, Germany. My previous BrickNerd articles discussing BSBT are linked here for 2021, 2022, and 2023.
For this article, I'm going to recount my BSBT 2024 experience in the style of a "travelogue" -- or "VLOG" style for folks familiar with the video equivalent!
Wheels Up to Berlin?
It all starts with the travel itinerary. As you can see from my Air Canada booking, it is a busy collection of flights including three German airports. Why so many? Predictably, it’s because of model trains!
Yes, in addition to being a train nerd, some of us are aviation nerds and use flightradar24 to track each other!
The first destination was Berlin where I met up with my Fx Bricks colleague Max from Hong Kong. This was a careful (yet fragile) orchestration of flight itineraries to meet Wednesday morning from opposite sides of the planet! Why Berlin? To visit the beautiful and charming Marklin toy shop of course! A shop which can be proud to celebrate more than 100 years of trading. Max has been slowly seduced by the allure of Z-scale model trains. Although impossibly small, these tiny charming models are marvels of manufacturing. Whilst Max stocked up on his Z-scale affliction, I browsed the shop’s well-stocked LEGO section and picked up the first of two LEGO City tram sets (#60423)
On to Schkeuditz
After a pleasant al-fresco lunch, we left Berlin for Leipzig (more specifically, Schkeuditz) the home of BSBT. As I've no doubt mentioned, BSBT is hosted in the ultimate venue--a former tram shed built in 1909, currently in the custodianship of a model train club and offered to L-Brick.de, the LUG which runs BSBT, for an entire week in August.
The maple leaf hangs brightly in the afternoon sunshine—one of many national flags; demonstrating the broad participation of train fans from many countries.
In the spirit of 2024 being an Olympics year, I was happy to see the addition of country flags decorating the windows, each representing the nationalities of this year's BSBT participants.
Train Yard!
One of our (Fx Bricks) key contributions to the BSBT layout this year was another massive train yard built entirely from 9V Fx Track elements. This train yard was a challenge to build since it it was required to fit into a complicated footprint with lead tracks interfacing the yard at different angles both “off the grid”, i.e. not at 90º intervals.
After many hours of laying track and fine tuning, we finished the yard. Train fans immediately began testing the yard operation and slowly the sidings started to fill up with beautiful LEGO train models!
After building the train yard, we then proceeded to setup our tables with our demo layout showcasing both existing and new Fx Track elements. We also brought several prototype 9V electrical products including our new metal wheelsets, motor bogie, and cable accessories.
Leipzig and LEGO
As I mentioned earlier, I had purchased the new LEGO City Tram set (60423) in Berlin. However, a visit to the LEGO store in Leipzig tempted me to buy a second copy of the same set (as well as several Pick-a-Brick boxes)! I knew these two boxes were not going to fit into my luggage for the return journey home, therefore, the boxes were opened and the polybags emptied! All those tempting bricks lay before me and I set myself a challenge to build a train MOC using only the elements from these 2x 60423 sets.
This let me build recreationally at BSBT whilst engaging with the friendly crowds of public visitors during the weekend. In the end I produced a very crude model of a Bombardier Talent diesel multiple unit with a working Jacobs bogie. It always amazes me how much you can push the limits of your building skills when forced to use a limited selection of elements!
Thanks Again L-Brick and Friends!
The few days we spend at BSBT always seem to fly by and before we realise, it is time to pack up again to go home. Before packing, all the exhibitors gather one final time for an informal award ceremony and for a chance to thank and acknowledge all of the hard working folks from L-Brick.de crucial to the success of BSBT.
Once again, the tram shed begins to empty out and train fans return back home after another fabulous few days of playing trains!
This would normally be the end of this article; however, remember all those other German airport codes on my travel itinerary? After packing up, we spent a leisurely evening in Schkeuditz ready for our very pleasant 4-5 hour countryside drive to our next destination: Hamburg.
Hamburg Wunderland!
Why Hamburg? Two words: Miniatur Wunderland! For those of you who have not been to this ground-breaking museum attraction, do yourself a favour and go—at least add it to your bucket list. It would be futile for me to describe how incredible this Guinness World Record biggest model railway attraction really is. Perhaps just a few statistics to give you an idea:
1100+ digitally operated model trains with 10,000+ wagons
4000+ buildings with 10,000+ self-driving model vehicles
250,000+ miniature figures
500,000+ LED lights used for illumination and animated effects
As a model train fan, technology geek, and all-round nerd, MW presses all of my buttons. I make no secret that MW is my inspiration for almost all of my LEGO train layout and model projects. It sets the bar for what can be achieved with the clever combination of model-making and technology—pretty much my mission!
P.S. Remember that I still need to bring home not only 2x 60423 LEGO train sets; but also 4x boxes of LEGO store Pick-A-Brick, 2x Speed Champions sets, and various other spare bits from our Fx Bricks inventory. I therefore made a distressed purchase of an extra suitcase in Hamburg in order to bring home my newly acquired goodies! It took many attempts, but I finally squashed everything in—much to the amusement of Airport Security (ask me how I know)!
Have you been to this event? Have you ever taken a plane to go to a train show, or vice versa? Let us know in the comments below!
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