Member Article

Young Master Builders complete Grand Central’s challenge to recreate Adelante train using LEGO®

Over 60 lucky children in West Yorkshire took part in an exclusive challenge to recreate one of Grand Central’s Adelante trains entirely out of LEGO® bricks.

Families from across Grand Central’s West Riding route joined renowned LEGO® architect BrickThis – aka Steve Mayes – to help build a 1:10 scale model of one of Grand Central’s Adelante trains as part of Grand Central’s The Grand Build challenge.

Children aged between 5 to 13 years old along with their families took part in The Grand Build at the Conservatory within the grounds of Eureka! The National Children’s Museum in Halifax, helping Steve Mayes with the construction of the LEGO® Adelante train in his biggest challenge to date.

At each of The Grand Build sessions, Steve gave youngsters a section of the Adelante train to build, along with full instructions and assistance to help them every step of the way. Now completed the LEGO® Adelante train is 4 metres long, stands 30cm high and comprises of around a staggering 30,000 LEGO® bricks.

Tickets for the event were made available for local families to apply for and several lucky families were given the opportunity to attend the school holiday challenge after winning tickets through Grand Central’s social media competition and exclusive Pulse Radio competition. The rail company also offered members of their staff to apply for tickets.

Grand Central, an established rail operator and part of the Arriva group, is excited that its Adelante trains has joined many other famous national and world landmarks which have been built out of LEGO® .

Noreen Allen, Marketing & Communications Manager at Grand Central, said: “We are delighted that our Adelante trains have been recreated in LEGO® as part of Steve’s biggest challenge yet. It is thrilling to join the likes of the Westminster Abbey, Eiffel Tower and other world famous landmarks which have had this unique honour.

“LEGO® is more popular than ever, and a real icon in itself. Our event gave youngsters the chance to get involved and play their part in immortalising our Adelante trains and capturing all the details of the interior and exterior carriages.

“We hope everyone who took part in The Grand Build had a great time and I’d to thank all of the master builders who helped to recreate one of our Adelante trains entirely out of LEGO® bricks.”

LEGO® architect Steve Mayes has taken his childhood hobby and turned it into a thriving business, using the famous coloured building blocks to faithfully recreate iconic landmarks, brick by brick.

Steve has already built LEGO® models of the Royal Institute Chartered Surveyors HQ in London, St James’ Park, the Angel of the North and his North Shields home.

He said: “When Grand Central approached me about recreating an Adelante train as a scale LEGO® model, it really appealed to me as an exciting new challenge.

“With the help of my Master Builders over the three day challenge, we created an accurate and highly detailed model, utilising some advanced LEGO® building techniques that everyone was able to enjoy.

“Free play during events such as this are a great way for children to explore and learn about the world around them. By sparking their imaginations and engaging them in play children can experience and understand how things work, recognise what they are capable of and interact with other people. It is both a fun and educational experience which children can share with their families.”

Eureka! is one of West Yorkshire’s most-loved attractions and is the only fully interactive museum in the UK totally dedicated to children. The Conservatory within the museum’s grounds where The Grand Build will take place overlooks Halifax train station where young Master Builders will be able to see the Adelante trains on the track while helping to create a scale LEGO® model of the very same train.

Rob Young, Commercial Manager at Eureka! said: “Everyone loves LEGO®. It’s the ultimate toy that encourages kids to explore their limitless imaginations and creativity so we’re chuffed to have hosted The Grand Build in our Conservatory space – a perfect backdrop for lovers of trains as it’s based on Halifax’s old train platform and Grand Central trains run literally outside the window. We couldn’t choo-choo choose a better event to host as we know all of the children and families who took part in The Grand Build thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Grand Central operates West Riding Services between Bradford Interchange, Low Moor, Halifax, Brighouse, Mirfield, Wakefield Kirkgate, Pontefract Monkhill, Doncaster and London King’s Cross. The rail operator also operates North East services between Sunderland, Hartlepool, Eaglescliffe, Northallerton, Thirsk, York and London King’s Cross.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Edmundson .