Preparing for Bournemouth Brick Festival

Less than three days to go and almost everything is still in its boxes — welcome to my pre-show panic! Since coming back from Bricktastic 2026, I've hardly done anything with my current LEGO layout, apart from playing around with an idea using some MILS plates (a modular baseplating system used by many AFOL builders). Pretty much everything is packed away exactly as it was when the show ended on the Sunday.

What I have been busy with is the automation and technical side of things. I've tweaked my PyBricks code (software for programming LEGO Powered Up hubs) to hopefully make the level crossing gates open more reliably — the real test of which will be at the coming show. I've also been getting a custom program running on a Raspberry Pi Zero, which listens to the signal emitted by the PyBricks hubs and plays a random whistle sound whenever someone triggers the train to move. Again, the real test will be at the show!

The layout play for Bournemouth Brick Festival 2026

I did at least plan what I'll be taking early on, which was needed to determine how many tables I'd need for my application. I did that a couple of days after Bricktastic, which gave me almost five weeks to get sorted… so naturally, here I am with three days to go.

Normally I keep just one section/model per box for transport, which makes setting up and packing away much easier — if any parts fall off, they stay in the box. For Bricktastic, however, I took rather a lot and had to squeeze things into fewer boxes than I would have liked to fit it all in the car. So I need to sort through everything again to make sure it's all back in its correct box. On the plus side, once that's done it'll be sorted for the next couple of shows too.

I haven't even gone through all the hubs, taken out the batteries, and recharged them yet — I think I'd better make a start on that this evening. I do have Friday booked off work, so I'm not too worried about being ready in time… famous last words!

This time I'm taking a smaller single-loop layout than I've displayed for a while. It's just big enough to include the main automated features — the level crossing, signal, and windmill — along with some of the scenery: the church, pub, and pond. The farm and barn will be staying home this time round, and there's just a small section of road, so overall it should be a fairly straightforward setup.