- 21 feet long
- 28 inches high
- road and rail decks
- detailed model of real bridge
In 2004, four members of the Northern Alberta LEGO Users Group (NALUG) built a model of Edmonton's High Level Bridge entirely out of LEGO parts for the Great Edmonton Model Train Show. This recreation of the High-Level Bridge was 21 feet long and 28 inches high. The model includes LEGO trees and bricks to represent the portion of Edmonton's river valley below the bridge. The LEGO High Level Bridge was about twice as high as the neighboring Light Rail Transit Bridge (LRT).
The historic High-Level Bridge in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was completed in 1913 by Canadian Pacific Railways. Designed by P.M. Motley, it became a major transportation link across the North Saskatchewan River for trains, streetcars and automobiles.
The LEGO bridge has been designed to represent the major features of the actual bridge. The design of the trusses of the center span over the concrete pylons is prototypical. The road on the lower deck is separated from the adjacent sidewalks by structural beams. The model accurately reproduces the steel support and truss patterns on both the north and south river banks. The horizontal scale is compressed so that the bridge does not exceed the constraints of the layout. In this layout, the bridge supports two mainlines while the actual bridge was built with one freight line in between two streetcar tracks. Today, only one streetcar track runs down the center of the upper bridge deck.
Michel Magnan began the design of the bridge during November 2003. During the first few months of 2004, Michel and John Koob made various design refinments to the different types of bridge spans. In March 2004, Michel completed the 8 foot center span and a 30 inch section of the south span with two steel supports. Two more 30 inch sections were built by John Koob and Chris Gray. The sections at both ends of the bridge were constructed by James Brown.
The tiered river valley was built on tables of varying height. These lower tables were covered in baseplates and landscaped by James Brown. Many other NALUG members helped set up the final model of the bridge and valley shown in the pictures.