MOC Update: The LEGO Store (Part 1)

This is the first part of a four part series of posts. Use the links below to navigate to other articles detailing this MOC.

Part II | Part III | Part IV

I started True North Bricks last March as a side project and hobby, not sure if anyone would actually read what I had to say. I have to admit, even though I do not run a large scale blog by any means, I have been pleasantly surprised at the following I have received here and on my other social media accounts. Looking over my articles and stats from the past few months, there has been a general interest in the MOC projects that I have posted about, particularly my last project on the modification of the Corner Deli (click here to read). I figure that if people like to read about those projects, I would start posting about them a little more often. I don’t have a lot of free building time, so it generally takes me months to complete a project. But, I figure I can share snapshots of my progress along the way. The images in this article are a little rough, but they do represent a “rough draft” of my MOC, so bear with me.

My latest project actually began last summer. My LEGO city has grown to occupy three tables at this point, and I am starting to have trouble fitting everything. This would not be a problem if I had my own basement, but alas I do not. My LEGO city resides in the basement of my gracious in-laws, and I feel a little guilty about my constant expansion (a year ago the city was only one table). Last summer, I came up with idea of saving floor space by starting to build up. That would also allow me to make more efficient use of space currently occupied by railroad. So, my overpass project began. The idea was to build a tunnel around the railroad, turning my train into a subway for at least part of its length. The first section was designed to be a crossroads for this tunnel and the main street of my town. In addition, it provides pedestrians with a staircase to reach an upper level of the city. The main structure of that overpass has been complete for months, and has actually appeared in many of my recent set review photos as a backdrop. But, the aesthetic details I still feel are a little lacking, so I have not actually transported it to my city yet.

While pondering the detailing of my overpass, I have also started another long awaited project that has been on the back-burner since the spring. Months ago, I purchased and reviewed LEGO‘s City Square (click here to read). It came with a lot of fun little bits and pieces that I have wanted to incorporate into my city for a while. The coffee stand became part of my Bike Shop and Cafe MOC (click here to read). The LEGO Store, LEGO truck, tram, and tram station are all becoming part of this new overpass project. The upper level of my city is going to become a sort of shopping promenade, I think. The first store will be the LEGO store, which I will modify from the City Square design. The tram will run along the shopping promenade. Currently, the first two sections of the tram track run above the train tunnel, but that may change as the shopping promenade grows.

This weekend, I worked quite a bit on the street level entrance to my LEGO Store, which you can see in the images above. This is essentially a warehouse. It is where the LEGO truck from City Square drops off its shipments. While I do not have any photos of the interior yet, I am quite happy with it so far. It has a computer terminal for receiving shipments, shelf storage space for overstock, and a freight elevator to reach the upper store level. The picture just above gives you a rough idea of where the LEGO Store will be placed using the City Square store front as a stand-in.

The picture above will hopefully give you a better idea of where I am going with this shopping promenade and tram. There is walking space for pedestrians, and a track along next to that for the tram. The tram will run past the store fronts as I develop them. The passenger train will run under the promenade for part of its length. You can also see where main street will pass under the promenade and over the train tracks. The tram running along the promenade will not circle the whole city as that would defeat the purpose of the train. But, I liked that little orange trolley so much that I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it after building City Square.

Anyway, that’s the first update for my new MOC project. I would love to hear what you think, and even ideas that you might have. I will put up another update soon (I hope), perhaps with some photos of the LEGO Store warehouse.

Until next time,

-T.N.B.