BRICKLINK DESIGNER PROGRAM · SERIES 11

My First BrickLink Designer Program Project

The first chapter of a railway project destined to evolve.

This project marked my first participation in the BrickLink Designer Program, submitted for Series 11, and it naturally grew out of one of my greatest passions in the LEGO world: trains.

At the heart of the project is a small industrial shunting locomotive, loosely inspired by the distinctive Italian locomotives commonly nicknamed “Sogliola” — literally, “Sole”.

More than a locomotive

But I didn’t want to create just a locomotive.

The idea was to build a complete miniature industrial railway scene: compact enough to work as a standalone display model, yet detailed enough to tell a small story.

The locomotive is paired with a single flatbed freight wagon carrying two large industrial coils, while the section of track becomes an integral part of the model through several typical railway elements, including a signal, details for the railway workers and a buffer stop featuring a functional spring-loaded mechanism.

Functions to discover

Small functional solutions have always been one of the aspects I enjoy most when designing my MOCs. I like a model to do something, not simply look good, and even in this first project I tried to include mechanical and construction details that reveal themselves when you take a closer look.

The first chapter

The Sogliola was not selected for the BrickLink Designer Program Series 11, but this project would eventually become far more important to me than I could have imagined at the time.

I never really considered it finished.

Some of its ideas — the locomotive, the industrial railway setting and, above all, the desire to combine a display model with real functionality — became the starting point for a much more ambitious evolution.

What began as a small train on a short section of track would continue to grow, change and become something considerably larger.

The Sogliola was the first chapter of that story.