Style Weekly
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Legomotion
by Chris Dovi
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Nobody loves Legos more than Ian Hemingway — except maybe his mom, Sue.
“I'd say the whole family are Lego maniacs,” says Sue Hemingway, who along with her son will exhibit their shared obsession during the 31st annual RF&P Model Railroad Show Nov. 28-30 at the Science Museum of Virginia.
That obsession, which began decades ago for mom and just a few years back for son, involves creating massive model railroad layouts entirely from thousands of tiny, multicolored plastic blocks. From buildings to roads to steam and diesel locomotives, everything on the table is made of Legos.
“You can pretty much build anything,” says Ian, 13, a pupil at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Henrico County.
You can pretty much break it too: As if to prove the point, a freight car attached to one of two rolling engines suddenly pops off the track, crashing to the floor and scattering in pieces.
“Oh well, it broke,” Ian says, smiling. “You build it and you keep it for a while.”
Sometimes an overeager toddler mistakes it for food or a toy. “At Ashland Train Day [earlier this month],” he says, “they all thought this was the play table.”
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