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About NALUG
The Northern Alberta LEGO® Users Group (NALUG) is an informal
group of adults in and around the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
We are a non-profit group that formed in 1999 and we promote LEGO®
as an adult hobby in our local community. NALUG has organized a number
of LEGO® train displays at local model train shows and shopping malls.
Most of NALUG's business is conducted online through email, but we
also get together in person for actual show planning and parts drafts.
New Website
Note that this nalug.org website is the *old* NALUG website. For more
up-to-date information see the
*new* NALUG
website. Not all of the content of this old website has been moved
to the new website yet.
Activities
During our meetings, we are usually seen engaged one or more of the following
pursuits:
- Discussing new LEGO® sets and pieces. Our interests
span multiple themes: Castle, Trains, Technic, Mindstorms, Town, and
sculptures.
- Trading or buying LEGO® sets and parts among each other.
Sets obtained from stores at deep discounts often make an appearance.
- Attending parts drafts. NALUG developed the Draft as
a great method of distributing bulk LEGO® parts among members.
- Swapping construction ideas and techniques, which can result
in spontaneous building sprees.
- Going out for pizza! Actually, this was
how NALUG was born on Apr 10, 1999.
Kids
NALUG itself is a group of Adult Fans of LEGO®, but we get asked at times
about local clubs for kids. Recently, we were contacted by the Stuart
MacPherson Public Library in Lac La Biche County. They have started up a
LEGO® club for kids. They are about 2-1/2 hours northeast of Edmonton.
Their
web page shows
times and dates for upcoming events.
Events
- eek! 2014 Show - May 31-June1, 2014
This was a new show for NALUG. The emphasis was on popular culture items, so
NALUG had a strong Star Wars showing, along with other items, mostly new.
- Saskatoon Show - February 22-23, 2014
This was NALUG's fifth appearance at the
Saskatoon Model Train Show, held at the Western Development Museum in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
- 2014 New Year Social - Jan 3 2014
Andrew F Hosted his annual social, with
30 people showing up.
- 2013 Enchanted Fall - Nov 8, 2013
NALUG was invited to participate in the 2013
Enchanted Fall meet and greet event
at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.
- Leo Nickerson School - Sep 27, 2013
NALUG member Laz put on a display for
Arts Day at the Leo Nickerson School in St. Albert, Alberta.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2013 - Sep 21-22, 2013
NALUG's 2013 appearance at the
annual GETS show featured a new highrise, a huge space shuttle, a new bank,
new fast-food joints and a new mountain with lots of large trees, along with
reappearances of the yard, city and mountain resort areas.
- Provincial Archives Display - June - September 2013
The Alberta Provincial Archives were doing a display based on the High Level
Bridge, and asked us to display our
LEGO® model there.
- Fort Saskatchewan Display - Saturdays 10am - 4pm
NALUG display space in Fort Saskatchewan Mall.
- Store Ribbon Build Party - Sunday May 5, 2013
When new LEGO® stores open, they need quite a few models for their display
"Ribbon".
They like to get local fans to help out by assembling those sets.
Some are current LEGO® sets, others are special sets from the LEGO®
model shop.
Here are several NALUG members,
friends and family, doing the assembly for the upcoming store in Edmonton.
- Red Deer Model Train & Hobby Show - Nov 24-25, 2012
NALUG members Drew, Kolin, Michel and Gary put on a
display at this show in the Alberta
city of Red Deer.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2012 - Sep 15-16, 2012
NALUG's 2012 appearance at the
annual GETS show featured two new highrises, new multi-story banks,
lots of windmills, an expanded circus, a large yard/industrial area, a
large resort area, and much more.
- First Lego League - Jan 21, 2012
2012's FLL event was again held at NAIT.
This is a fairly regular Technic/Mindstorms event for NALUG members.
- Red Deer Model Train & Hobby Show - Oct 29-30, 2011
NALUG members Andrew and Drew put on a
display at this show in the Alberta
city of Red Deer.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2011 - Sep 17-18, 2011
NALUG's 2011 appearance at the
annual GETS show featured many smaller new models, along with the
re-appearance of the High Level, LRT and bascule bridges.
- First Lego League - Jan 22, 2011
2011's FLL event was again held at NAIT.
This is a fairly regular Technic/Mindstorms event for NALUG members.
- Edmonton Telus World of Science - Sep - Dec, 2010
NALUG's ongoing relationship with Telus World of Science lead to another
four month NALUG display there. This one included our High Level Bridge, LRT
bridge and valley model, shown as part of a transportation display also
featuring LEGO models by other groups. Sorry, no pictures yet.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2010 - Sep 24-25, 2010
In 2010, NALUG's display at GETS
again won the people's choice award. Attendance at this show was noticeably
greater than at the past couple of years. Centered around Europe, the display
featured castles, a seaport, wind turbines, Hogwarts castle, London scenes,
etc., including many items new to this display.
- First Lego League - Jan 23, 2010
2010's FLL event was again held at NAIT.
This is a fairly regular Technic/Mindstorms event for NALUG members.
- Londonderry Mall - March 2009 - October 2009
NALUG had the use of a
store in Edmonton's Londonderry Mall,
to display some of our models and to prepare for the annual train show.
We were generally open to the public on Saturday afternoons, noon - 5p.m.,
and on holiday Monday afternoons.
- Legislature Display - ongoing
The Lego model of the Alberta Legislature building, built by NALUG members
John Koob and Chris Gray with help from several others, is on
permanent display
in the indoor pedway system of the real Legislature grounds.
The model is inside a great custom display case built by the craftsmen
from the Royal Alberta Museum.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2009 - Sep 19-20, 2009
NALUG's 2009 display at GETS won
first place awards.
There was lots of new stuff, and lots of action in the layout.
Depending on how you count, there were up to 12 independently controlled
trains running around.
New this year was an operating coaling railroad, several new custom trains
and new custom structures.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2008 - Sep 20-21, 2008
NALUG's 2008 appearance at the train
show included a winter scene, a large dock area with container ship and
cranes, a mountain/cliff section, an airport and a historical museum town.
This show was at the Mayfield Trade Center in Edmonton.
- First Lego League - Jan 26, 2008
2008's FLL event was held at NAIT. As has
become traditional, a few NALUG members had a small display at the event.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2007 - Sep 22-23, 2007
NALUG's 2007 appearance at the train
show included the start of a winter scene, a dock area with container ship and
cranes, the buildings from the "Corner Gas" TV show, a town area, and a
large industrial area.
This show was at the Mayfield Trade Center in Edmonton.
- Telus World of Science Star Wars Display - September 22, 2007
- January 2008
This was NALUG's third display with TWOS, after the successful
Egyptian and Dinosaur displays. There were lots of Star Wars minifigs,
space ships, podracers and other vehicles. There were also displays of
scenes on the planets Hoth, Tatooine, Endor, Geonosis, Yavin and Mustafar.
- Castle Wars at Capilano Mall - Weekend of March 29,
2007
NALUG's second appearance at Capilano
Mall was for a session of Castle Wars. We had a great keep with outer wall,
huge armies including Andrew's giant trebuchet, and a lot of fun.
- Royal Alberta Museum Display - December 9, 2006 - January 21, 2007
NALUG displayed several detailed models, many relating to Alberta's
centennial year of 2005, in an exhibit room of the Royal Alberta Museum in
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This display was so popular that the museum asked
us to extend it 2 weeks beyond its original ending date.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2006 - Sep 16-17, 2006
NALUG's seventh appearance at the
model train show focused on railroading in rural Alberta.
Features included a farm, a small town, rolling hills and mountains, and
a train yard.
- Saskatoon Show - March 4-5, 2006
This was NALUG's fourth appearance at the
Saskatoon Prairie Rail Workshop Annual Spring Show, held at the
Western Development Museum in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
- Londonderry Mall - February 18-20, 2006
This was our second display at
this local mall. It was mostly a mix of train, town and Technic.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2005 - Sep 17-18, 2005
NALUG's sixth appearance at this
local train show concentrated on the province of Alberta's centennial year.
Items include the Alberta Legislature, the Hotel Macdonald and original
versions of Edmonton hospitals.
- Saskatoon Show - March 5-6, 2005
This was NALUG's third appearance at the
Saskatoon Prairie Rail Workshop Annual Spring Show, held at the
Western Development Museum in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2004 - Sep 18-19, 2004
NALUG's fifth appearance at this
local train show was our biggest and most ambitious to date.
With many large buildings, seven bridges and a mountain, final
assembly was finished at the show itself! This layout was a huge 35' x 22'.
- Saskatoon Show - March 6-7, 2004
This was NALUG's second time at the
Saskatoon Prairie Rail Workshop Annual Spring Show. This was the first
public appearance of Laz's monster suspension bridge.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2003 - Sep 20-21, 2003
NALUG's fourth appearance at the
Great Edmonton Train Show was another success. It was our first big show
with DCC controlled Lego trains and our new transfer table. At 40' x 13'
it was our largest layout yet.
- Northgate Mall - June 28-29 2003
Our third mall show in 2003 was at Northgate Mall, in a big sunny
atrium area. This time
John's crane was back, under Kevin's direction we tried
out DCC with Lego trains, tried out the nifty tranfer table that
Kevin built, and Andrew built a whole layout for us.
- Londonderry Mall - May 24-25 2003
Publicity from our Capilano show lead to more invitations. For
this display we were able to
re-use James' and Raven's castle, and get our first look at Mark's
machinery.
- Saskatoon Show - Feb 23-24 2003
A couple of members did a small show
for the Prairie Rail Workshop Annual Spring Show, at the Prairieland
Exhibition Grounds in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
- Capilano Mall - Feb 17, 2003
This was our first invitation to have a
display at a local shopping mall.
It was a new experience for us, but great fun.
- Supertrain 2003 - Feb 15-16, 2003
This was the first show done by SALUG, our sister group in Calgary.
A couple of NALUG folks went down to help out, and came back with
pictures. Well done SALUG!
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2002 - Sep 28-29, 2002
The fourth NALUG train layout
was a tremendous success. It featured
a large (25'x15') layout with many impressive and entertaining elements.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2001 - Sep 22-23, 2001
The third NALUG train layout
appeared at the 2001 Great Edmonton Train Show in the Mayfield
Inn Trade Center. Attendance at 6700 was well above the previous
year's turnout.
- Supertrain 2001 - Feb 17-18, 2001
Our second NALUG train layout
was set up by some of our members in the Big 4 Building,
Stampede Park, Calgary. Attendance was over 13000,
and the layout was a huge 70'x30' in size. This time we had a
thousand handouts.
- Great Edmonton Train Show 2000 - Sep 16-17, 2000
The first NALUG train layout
was displayed at the Kingsway hangar. We were fortunate that our layout
was only 10'x15', especially since it took over 6 hours to set up.
Attendance was 4800, but we had only a hundred
handouts available,
Contact Information
For more information about NALUG, or if you would like to become a member,
please visit the
Contact Us
page. If you are looking for the official LEGO® website, it can be found at
www.lego.com.
Disclaimer: LEGO® is a registered trademark of the LEGO® Group. This site is not supported, endorsed by,
or is any way associated with The LEGO® Group or associated companies. Please visit
www.lego.com.