Trains get the glory, but somebody has to keep the railway from becoming a canal. In Pieter Post 2001’s Dutch polder landscape part 2, that job falls to a wind-powered mill, pumping excess water from low-lying farmland into a little river bound for the sea. Infrastructure nerds, this is our stop.
The premise gives this LEGO landscape something I love: a reason for its geography. The polder sits below the water table, while the railway travels along a high embankment. Where tracks meet river, a rotating bridge handles the crossing. Rail traffic and river traffic have to share. Play nicely, steam engines.
Since its LEGO World debut, Pieter has expanded the landscape to the left, with ground gently climbing back to normal level. That change in elevation is the sort of modelling decision that makes a layout more than scenery around some track. Here, the land and water tell the story—and the train gets a cracking route through it.
Build by Pieter Post 2001 on Flickr.
