The Boston Red Sox were a big hit at the 1st Annual Westside Train Show in West Springfield, MA.

On February 28th, NELUG displayed at the West Springfield Middle School, on invitation of the area's PTO. We fielded a 14' x 14' display, which contained a large rail yard, several industries, a small town, and Fenway Park, contributed by one of our newest members.

Trains of all varieties were on display, and the yard was kept busy throughout the day as several regional railroads took turns on the tracks. Spotted in the lineup were locomotives from The Green Mountain Railway, Vermont Railway, New Haven, and Rutland, as well as a 20 car Amtrak passenger consist. The Brickling Brother's circus train was on display, as well as the ever popular Thomas The Tank Engine.

We'd like to thank our host, the John Ashley PTO, for the effort that they put into making us feel at home. The coffee and donuts were much appreciated!

Photos of the show can be found in our media gallery.

New England Lego Users Group was invited to help celebrate the final weekend of the three month long Train Time exhibit at the Wenham Museum in Wenham, Massachusetts. We were happy to take part by creating a 16’ by 16’ train display. The visitors were enthusiastic (Please don’t touch that.) and for the most part, well behaved. (Sir, did your son bring that minifigure with him today?) Even Sunday’s snow didn’t keep everyone away.

The layout featured a busy rail yard (Can you make that one run?), an exciting carnival (No, none of them are sets), and a snow covered city and town. For adults, the carnival’s Round Up ride probably brought back some queasy memories. For the younger kids, (Watch your fingers.) Sponge Bob popping wheelies was a big hit.

One highlight from the city was a Chinese New Year celebration (Please don’t touch) going on in the shadow of two skyscrapers. (Look. The door moves.) In the town, our minifigures were busy skating, sledding, creating complex snow sculptures, and engaging in some pretty brutal snowball fights. But folks came to see the trains and for this show (Watch your fingers, please) they ranged from a dragon chasing a hand car to the classic Santa Fe Super Chief.

A three day show may have strained (Don’t touch that!) a nerve or two, but we had a great time and the museum staff were wonderful. They not only provided food and refreshment, but great company and support as well. Photos of the event can be seen in our Gallery.

This past weekend, there was an attack by the rare, fresh water shark at the NELUG display during the Greenberg Toy and Train Show in Hartford, CT. Other strange animal behavior on the display included snakes in the trees, sheep navigating the hedge maze, an ostrich chasing an escaped prisoner, geese leaping from rooftop to rooftop, and somehow, the cows confused fuel storage tanks for a milking station. The turkeys were in a highly agitated state, no doubt worried about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. The rooftops were crowded not only with geese and turkeys, but also battling ninjas, superheroes and super villains.

But the main show was, of course, the trains. Younger visitors were thrilled to see James and Thomas the tank engine, and the latest version of the Circus train was a universal hit. Another bit hit was the monitor displaying the view from the camera hidden in one of the train engines. Many people remembered NELUG from the display we did in the spring of 2007, but many more commented, “LEGO makes trains?” We were happy to introduce them to the LEGO Train System and hopefully created some new fans.

In addition to the train layout, we were given enough space for member, Bill Bourn, to give a hands-on LEGO Robotics demonstration with his battling bots.

Photos of the show can be seen in our Gallery

Written by Linda D
Editted by Jonathan D

A little something for Søren....

Back in early October during the MITO event in Enfield MITO Event, Søren Torp Laursen (the President of Lego Systems North America for those who aren't familiar), approached us to see if we could display something during their Leadership Board meeting.

Søren & his children enjoyed the display in Enfield and was wondering if NELUG could display something though didn't know what at the time. He had seen Nathan Sawaya's sculptures and suggested perhaps NELUG would be able and willing to display something similar. We stated that although we didn't have a 12 foot stegosaurus handy, we suggested the Mosaic of the Boston Skyline that was shown originally at the Boston Home Show and later at Brick Blast 2006.

Søren saw a picture of the mosaic, was duly impressed and thought it perfect for the Leadership Team event. At this point it was coming down to the wire and after some frantic email exchanges, we quickly coordinated with Vince Rubino, the Marketing Program Manager for Lego, and Ann the Westin's Convention Servcies Manager to have a few members help setup this past Sunday the 26th.

If you happen to be in the area before Thursday, I recommend checking it out if you've never seen the mosaic in person. The hotel is the Westin Boston Waterfront located at 425 Summer Street (next door to the World Trade Center). The mosaic is setup on the mezzanine level and will be there until late Thursday, Oct 30th.
For a few more pics check out the gallery.

On Saturday September 27, 2008, members of NELUG participated in a fund raising event entitled "Mito Walk and Family Fun Day" for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. The event was held at LEGO Systems, Inc. headquarters in Enfield, CT, and featured a 5K Walk, LEGO raffle, a skateboard demonstration, LEGO displays, a free build area, and a huge floor mural. NELUG helped by providing three displays; a moonbase, a large castle complex, and an exhibition of several city MOCs. The center of the moonbase display featured Spacely Towers by Teddy Welsh. Two modules (a Sponge-Bob themed Sandy's Greenhouse and a Classic Spaceport) and a moon monorail train were built by Jonathan Dallas, a Robot Museum module showcasing the likes of the Silent Running drones, B9 robot from LIS, Robbie the Robot, Rosie & Uniblab from the Jetsons and Oliver Wendal Jones' Banana PC Jr 6000 from Bloom County was done by Dave Gwon, three modules (Crystal Hotel, Moonbase Cafe Corner, and Market Street Moonbase) created for BrickFair 2008 were displayed by Mike Ripley, and connector modules in classic space and Blacktron colors were built by Linda Dallas. The castle display highlighted a large castle layout by Matt Mann, a castle and dragon scene by Dave Eaton, and a model of the Jabberwock by Jason Wolfson. Dave Gwon also provided two city MOCs, Bill Bourn had a robotics demonstration for the kids, and Steve Doerner provided extra hands to help with setup and tear down. Several NELUG members also walked in the 5K Walk that followed a somewhat damp, swampy and mosquito ridden path around the LEGO complex. A Channel 40 (ABC) news team was present for the grand finale, which featured a ring of people lying on the floor around the giant floor mural featuring the word 'Hope' adorned with - LEGO! As a result of everyone's hard work, over $38,000 was raised. And as a special treat for NELUG, we were given a tour of the new work spaces for the Master Builders in Enfield. It was great to hang out with Erik Varszegi, Dan Steiniger and Steve Witt, and to be invited to participate in the event! To see all the pictures taken at the event, please visit the event picture area in our Media Gallery.

On April 20th, 2008, NELUG put on a small display at the Hooksett, NH Lion's Club Model Railroad Show at Cawley Middle School in Hooksett, NH.  The display included a small town, farmland, a country fair, and several new and returning trains.

Though cows appeared all over the layout, a few stayed in the farm to keep the ostrich and giant bunnies company.  Indiana Jones made a heroic appearance on a WWII themed train, narrowly escaping his foes by hanging onto the back of a German caboose.  In another nod to history, a short Rutland train made its way quietly around the tracks, hauling marble, and occasionally Storm Troopers (We have a loose sense of history).  As in the past, visitors were treated to a drive-in movie of themselves, thanks to a hidden camera aboard the mixed freight train on our third loop.

The crowd at the show was enthusiastic and friendly, as were our hosts, The Hooksett Lion's Club, making for a great weekend of railroading.

Photos of the show may be seen in our gallery.

We once again had a fantastic time showing at the Greenberg.  Once again we were in the Fez room which makes for an interesting environment.  We are away from the hussle and bussle but it is a much more comfortable space.  We seemed to have a ring of chair around the layout throughout the show and at times crowds were 3 or more deep around the entire layout.

There was an engine with a camera in it which was a big hit and the Duplo Shark attack was also quite popular.  The ammusement area had a couple of new rides and the Medevil Fair is getting bigger and more popular.  There were a couple new Skyscrapers as well which always makes for interesting changes/challenges with the skyline.  The residential area was also packed with interesting things.

To view an entire gallery of images please click on the image to the left.

NELUG Has Another Go at Facing Down the Face Eating Aliens in Face... I mean, Space!

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BrikWarriors from space engage in a battle of wits and rockets with horrible aliens, incompetent locksmiths and a diabolical ship design that would make MC Escher green with envy. 

[Note: The following account is somewhat in dispute. Event may have been altered for dramatic effect, sensationalism, and to fill in the blanks during a particularly bad night of drinking. This is what happens when you hire people trained at FOX.]

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On Saturday NELUG played it’s 4th Brikwars game of 2007. Six small squads of medieval troops fought amongst crumbling ruins and landowner homes for dominance of the region. Lizardmen battled Ninjas, Knights skirmished against Highwaymen, and Barbarians took up arms against the Strange Men who embrace scorpions as their sea-wives. Advantage on the field of battle shifted with the winds, but in the end the day was carried by our newly-anointed evil Reptilian Overlords.

NELUG Participated in the Boston Children's Museum grand reopening gala, entitiled "LEGO of Your Inhibitions," that was used as a fund raising event to show off their recent $47 million rennovation. The black tie event was well attend, providing patrons with a variety of displays, music and food spread across three of its six floors.

NELUG was nestled on the third floor, not far away from numerous 2x3 brick-inspired cakes. Our display was a big hit, the largest affirmation of which came in the form of disappointed patrons when they realized our display was not a permanent exhibit. It was a great night and we had a blast!

We'd like to thank the BCM of the opportunity and to member Jonathan Dallas for putting us all in touch. For more pictures, visit our gallery.