Eighty Danish Lego devotees got together on May 10 and 11 to help one Henrik Ludvigsen with his plan to build the world's longest plastic toy train track.
At 4,000.25 m (13,124 ft) in length and using 93,307 pieces, the track met with the approval of the records keepers of Guinness – after the Lego train engine completed its 4-hour journey from one end to the other, that is.
Lego's expensive stuff, so hats off to Ludvigsen who, upon realizing his own collection was too small to take on his grand scheme, placed ads in newspapers and online to ask for more blue track. (When it comes to soliciting freebies, it helps to give people a noble or ambitious cause to rally behind, it seems.)
There's no word yet on whether the British Government will hire Ludvigsen et al as consultants to the High Speed 2 rail program.
As for the point, well Lego have not been altogether successful in getting takeup for their latest non electrified plastic track and battery powered train motors (note that the track used is in fact their earliest train track which was also non electrified except when an additional conducting pair of center rails was added). Many Lego railway fans prefer the now obsolete metal powered rail system.Due to friction and non-variability of the gauge, Lego trains have to work harder going through curves- and the fact that this layout is full of curves, and the loco battery could sustain a 4 hour journey is likely to encourage acceptance of the latest system.
What is the point of throwing darts, or painting landscapes? There is little point to these activities in the modern world- people do it because they derive satisfaction from doing them. That is the point.