A history of Shildon Brick Show

2016

Where it all began. A handful of LEGO fans and friends came together to display their models in Locomotion Museum, among the trains – and even some vintage buses! No-one knew it would still be going ten years later…

Notice the lack of table cloths, and lots of LEGO sets on tables – our community is full of superb builders now and our shows focus much more heavily on custom-built models (known as My Own Creations – MOCs).

Thanks to Jack and Adam for their photographs for 2016.

2017

We learned a lot from the very busy crowds in 2016, and returned a year later with more LEGO displays.

Thanks to Suz for her photographs from this year.

2018

As the years progress, the models became larger and more impressive.

Here’s Ian’s brilliant LEGO construction site at Shildon Brick Show 2018:

Many of our traders have been to every event (or nearly every event!) – here’s Rob and Jo’s LJO Minifigures stand in 2018.

Thanks to Tom Pattyn for his photographs from this year.

Paul’s brilliant interactive Scalectrix-LEGO mashup at Shildon Brick Show 2018.

Brick Alley look after our exhibitors and volunteers, and offer lunch and light refreshments for the Saturday and Sunday.

We also have a LEGO cake:

And our LEGO speed build activity was in full swing too that weekend – do you recognise your name?

2019

LEGO trains have been a regular fixture at Shildon Brick Show, and 2019 was no exception!

Thanks to Jim Walshe for the 2019 photographs.

2020

Thanks to a certain global pandemic, Shildon Brick Show moved online in 2020, and we invited LEGO fans from around the world to join us and tell us about their models.

You can watch videos from this show on YouTube here.

Here’s Steve (aka BrickThis) talking about his awesome LEGO Rocket model:

2021

2021 saw the show return to Locomotion again, albeit with some restrictions!

2022

After returning to almost normal, our models continued to get more ambitious and creative thanks to Brick Alley’s growing membership.

Here is Iain Metcalf’s brilliant DUPLO trains set up at Shildon Brick Show 2022:

We also began collaborative projects for our members to contribute to, and 2022 saw our terraced shops make their first appearance:

Jules’ and Jonathan’s vintage town got larger and larger too!

And, as ever, there were traders to buy from – here’s Deb’s (aka Toys ‘R’ Art) stall full of goodies:

Andy Larkum’s LEGO London Underground display made its first appearance this year:

2023

2023 saw the LEGO train club display reborn, with a mini LEGO Locomotion Museum as part of their display:

And our collaborative group project was minifigure mosaics, including this superb Master Wu minifigure artwork:

2024

We often celebrate members’ birthdays at our shows, and Graham didn’t escape celebrating a big birthday at Shildon Brick Show 2024…

Maxine’s LEGO zoo made an appearance this year – and even won Best MOC (My Own Creation), as voted for by other exhibitors at the show.

2025

Last year’s show was our biggest yet, full of LEGO models, activities and trade stands, plus a lot of love for the world’s favourite plastic blocks.

2025 saw our live build of the epic UCS LEGO Death Star over the show, with many members spending an hour building in pairs to get the set complete before the show finished. We managed it – with 30 minutes to spare!