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Lego BR 21T HTO/HTV Hopper Wagon

I always loved the BR Tippler wagon designs when I first started playing Train Simulator. The design is simple, but does so much in terms of looks, especially in consists.

 

Though the simple design does put up a fight when making it out of Legos. Little oversteps through off this build, so striking a mid ground took some time.

 

The most challenging part of this build was getting a proper name and model basis. Google showed so many variants, including mismatched names, too, which led to the next build. The BR 21T HTO/HTV Hopper Wagons.

 

Hopper wagons are in my top 3 of my favorite types of rolling stock, so I always wanted to make a design into Lego. The thing is, I sucked at it. For YEARS, I’ve made and then deleted hopper designs; I hated all of them strongly. At one point, I gave up entirely and just focused on making other wagons. After all this time, I gave it another shot, and I’m happy with what I made.

 

Coupled with new building knowledge, I did something different and built upside down. When I started building hoppers, I built right side up, but there was always an ugly lip or flat section that disrupted the design. By flipping it, I was able to connect the tiles using brackets to make a flush design. The flat section was now on the bottom, where I can use hose pieces to accurately and conveniently cover the eyesore. After fixing the biggest issue, everything else was a breeze to connect/design through.

 

Seriously, I don’t think I was this happy after making the LNER P2.

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Uploaded on May 28, 2026