Anatomy of a warehouse

LEGO Goods Warehouse by Tim Gould

With my latest model I went public with what I usually keep private: my building stages. Since the photos and comments were up I thought it might be interesting to share this process with TBB as an example of how I (and I imagine many other people) build something.


In this case I wanted to build a structure to go with my Ol’ Brittania train. Since I’ve been fairly stumped for ideas lately I searched for a few Hornby models for inspiration and asked my Flickr friends what they thought I should build. I promptly ignored their advice and went with the least popular design.


I then made an LDraw rough draught of the building to try to get the basic layout and proportions as well as the most prominent details. I also wanted to get an idea of how many dark orange bricks I would need to build it to see if I had to order any.

Following comments from ‘the commitee’ I proceeded to make a slightly more refined model with some of the details included. You can see that the roof has been vastly improved and the entire model has become one brick taller.

For my final work-in-progress (WIP) stage I substantially altered many of the details and added still more. It should be noted that at all stages so far the model doesn’t have a back. At this stage I also learnt that the model was a) not a model of what I thought it was and b) not at all valid in its current form. I then conspired (away from the commitee) to remedy this for the final, secret, version.

Finally I spent many hours of back-ache transferring the CAD to brick and adding on all the final details (as well as a back). I changed the design from a coal drop to a small railside warehouse as I’ve always wanted to build one and it made more sense. I also altered bits of the design to allow various components to pop out for added playability.

And thus a model was born. I hope I satisfied the commitee as well as everyone else. Have fun spotting what has remained throughout the design process.

8 comments on “Anatomy of a warehouse

  1. Daedalus

    I haven’t taken the time to really pour over this as it deserves, but let me say a big thank you in advance. This is the type of thing I really enjoy seeing; I often get stuck in development and far too often a project never sees completion as a result. I find that exploring the evolution of others’ projects helps me see how I can re-think my own when I run into a problem.
    Some people might be uninterested in this sort of thing, but I’m fascinated by it. Thanks again!

  2. The Ranger of Awesomeness

    To me, this is what a LEGO blog should be about. Not that people’s creations shouldn’t be featured here frequently, but personal articles like this one and the ones that Thanel writes are really cool. And the MOC is awesome, too.

  3. MattDawson

    The goods shed & coal drop looks very good, but a few points;
    > The goods shed doesn’t look long enough for provision of double doors (these were fitted to sheds such as Kidderminster, now on the SVR) to allow the loading of 2 vans/wagons simultaniously.
    > No goods sheds of this type featured swing up doors. All were sideways opening as the technology for swing up doors wasn’t available until the mid 80s, and even then roller shutters were used.
    > The coal drop should be mounted above the track on an embankment, as the coal drop shoots whould be directly over the tender/bunker. See the didcot coal drop.

    I don’t mean to sound picky…

  4. Matn

    That’s a very nice building and a good article. If you ask me, these are one of the most interesting sort of articles. When I am going to build a creation, I just have something in my head. And then I collect the right pieces for it and I’ll where I get. I think most people do it like this?

  5. gambort Post author

    ^^ Did you actually read the article or the comments on the coal drop? It has already been well established that this wouldn’t work as a coal drop. Pointing it out again makes you sound silly, not picky.

    I’m not striving for perfect historical accuracy, just something that looks the part. Without access to photos I had to rely on my memory and pictures of other similar things. I suspected the door was wrong but it was the only way I could make a working door in the available space.

  6. Bunbrick

    I wholeheartedly agree with The Ranger of Awesomeness & Matn. These sort of background articles into the building process (and the hobby as a whole – praise indeed for Thanel, he’s proven a very-enjoyable-to-read addition to the team) really make a difference.
    In a ‘normal’ blogpost situation I wouldn’t have given this particular creation all that much of a look* and fairly quickly browsed on to the next post. – But, in this case, i read through the whole accompanying text, looked over all the various stages’ pics, read the notes on them… It just adds a whole ‘nother level of insight. I, too, would definitely like to see more of these articles.

    *sorry gambort, no offense. Train just isn’t really my thing. :-) I did all the same appreciate the look of the roof though, and the tight way you did the cranes section, especially. So it’s not like there was no appeal at all in it for me.

  7. gambort Post author

    Thanks everyone for your support. The problem with this sort of article is that it usually requires pre-planning. It was mainly because I was feeling a bit uncofident in my building abilities that I went public this time. This meant I had clear images of various stages to share with you. But I promise that next time I do this I’ll post it up again.

    ^ No offense taken. I usually brush over Technic MOCs even though they are often super, mega, extremely clever.

  8. Marc Nelson Jr.

    Thanks for showing us the process, Tim.

    The tiles on the roof do an amazing job of showing texture by just being a hair from fully attached. I like the downspout, but it doesn’t seem to be connected to any gutters – or is it something else?

    “I promptly ignored their advice and went with the least popular design.”

    Ha! My wife knows the feeling – “Then what did you ask me for?!?”

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