Vintage set of the week: Gravel Works
Posted by Huwbot,
This week's vintage set is 360 Gravel Works, released during 1974. It's one of 13 LEGOLAND sets produced that year. It contains 211 pieces.
It's owned by 518 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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34 comments on this article
Does it now? I didn't know Gravel worked.
Gravel Works? Gravel Good Enough
Is it really gravel if it's the size of a person?
I'll be honest and admit that I wouldn't mind playing with that, and I'm an adult in his forties.
That conveyor is a special piece, and works well.
My first set.
In my mind, this has always been the quintessential set of the 1970's.
The US version (580 Brick Yard I think) was one of the first sets I owned as a kid - I must've been 6 or 7 at the oldest. I still find it quite charming - re-assembled it a year or two ago and the memories came flooding back!
Looks like a perfect Lego playset!
@PurpleDave: Well; it's not the size of a person, it would come to a person's...thigh...(looks) wait...(looks)...there's...no 'bodies' there...(GASP) THE MACHINES HAVE TAKEN OVER, IT'S "MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE"...:D
@brick_r said:
" @PurpleDave: Well; it's not the size of a person, it would come to a person's...thigh..."
No, look again at the appropriately scaled cabs on those tiny 4-wide vehicles. They should perhaps be one or two plates taller, but the width is pretty much spot on for that scale.
I’d like to see more industrial playsets in lego city
@purpledave said:
" Is it really gravel if it's the size of a person? "
Modern sets are even worse when you consider food such as carrots, burgers, etc. The 1x1 round plate didn't exist at the time but no doubt that would have been used for gravel if it did. The alternative name gravel quarry is perhaps better, as it suggests that these are stone blocks going into a crusher. Obviously they cannot be crushed and come out in small pieces.
@Ridgeheart: That claw bucket was still in use in 1996. I know because I have it in 4565. And yeah, it's one of those pieces that long predate Mixels, but are compatible with Mixel joints.
Edit: Actually, it lasted at least until 2000, because it was also in 6600-2.
@Ofie said:
"My first set."
Same here <3
Gravel works for what?
I got that one too as a kid and still have it. As mentioned it was called Brickyard in the US. I think it was my second set (got the police station first.). Lots of play value in this set!
I have one of those conveyors, I like that piece :D
That conveyor piece was mentioned in a New Elementary article rebutting the "Lego didn't use to have specialized pieces!" complaint: https://www.newelementary.com/2014/08/when-lego-was-never-just-bricks.html
@CCC said:
" @purpledave said:
" Is it really gravel if it's the size of a person? "
Modern sets are even worse when you consider food such as carrots, burgers, etc. The 1x1 round plate didn't exist at the time but no doubt that would have been used for gravel if it did. The alternative name gravel quarry is perhaps better, as it suggests that these are stone blocks going into a crusher. Obviously they cannot be crushed and come out in small pieces."
So that's why most female minifigs wear tops with black printed on their sides. They want to look slim, but still eat a burger the size of their torso every day.
@CCC said:
" @purpledave said:
" Is it really gravel if it's the size of a person? "
Modern sets are even worse when you consider food such as carrots, burgers, etc. The 1x1 round plate didn't exist at the time but no doubt that would have been used for gravel if it did. The alternative name gravel quarry is perhaps better, as it suggests that these are stone blocks going into a crusher. Obviously they cannot be crushed and come out in small pieces."
Nah, they just get their food exclusively from Alaska:
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/10/alaskas-giant-vegetables.html
Hadn't seen this set before, but pretty awesome! And so many cool pieces like those hinges, the claw-bucket, and obviously the conveyor belt. The latter kinde straddles the line of being too specialized for no reason, although with the available pieces back then it couldn't really have been done otherwise.
At first glance I was a bit wondered about that crane with rubber wheels on those tracks, but with those double ones, why not?
Also interesting to see a few (partially) 6-wide alternate builds, despite those wheels being just 4 wide. With one it seems like they just put two next to each other, sao basically 8-wide tiny wheels under a pretty chucky 6-wide cab....
The Rock Raider HQ of its day.
"Gravel works" is one of the names people uses when they see my GBC layout
I got part of this in a used lot sometime in the past year. It was missing the conveyer belt. But I had pats of it from a previous lot. then a couple months ago I got a few other random parts, so now my conveyer belt is just missing one crucial part: The base that attaches it to other bricks.
"It's got gravel excavators, gravel cranes, gravel conveyors, gravel trucks,
The works"
"Gravel works" for short.
my first LEGO set!
@PurpleDave said:
" @CCC said:
" @purpledave said:
" Is it really gravel if it's the size of a person? "
Modern sets are even worse when you consider food such as carrots, burgers, etc. The 1x1 round plate didn't exist at the time but no doubt that would have been used for gravel if it did. The alternative name gravel quarry is perhaps better, as it suggests that these are stone blocks going into a crusher. Obviously they cannot be crushed and come out in small pieces."
Nah, they just get their food exclusively from Alaska:
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/10/alaskas-giant-vegetables.html"
At least it makes their exorbitant prices a bit more bearable...
@PhantomBricks said:
"At least it makes their exorbitant prices a bit more bearable..."
Sure.
“Great, another two weeks of nothing but lettuce soup.”
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Ridgeheart: That claw bucket was still in use in 1996. I know because I have it in 4565. And yeah, it's one of those pieces that long predate Mixels, but are compatible with Mixel joints.
Edit: Actually, it lasted at least until 2000, because it was also in 6600-2."
It actually lasted even longer than that. Looks like it was last used in 2015 in 60098 Heavy-Haul Train. I'm amazed how old this claw bucket part, and how long it lasted. I don't know if it's officially retired or not, but that's quite a run for something this specialized.
My uncle had this! I got to play with it when I was growing up and I think my cousin still has it somewhere. Super cool second generation memories :)
I never had this set as a child, although I do remember seeing it in the catalogues of the time and marveling at the conveyor belt piece. Looking back now at this set, it is striking to see some similarities between it and set 6383, the Public Works Center form 1981, a set I own and thoroughly enjoyed building and playing with over the years. Both sets contain a dump type truck, a wheeled loader, and an elevated piece of machinery each using the yellow claw piece. Yellow bricks stand out significantly in the build in both sets with red accents. A major difference between the two would be conveyor belt used in this set compared to the blue hopper/rock crusher in set 6383, and of course the mini-figures.
Someone at LEGO in the late 70s seemed to be obsessed with this sort of loading depot! Multiple variants kept coming out, including versions of it in all the big universal 'BASIC Sets' for a few years. The elevated loading crane idea persisted into the European minifig 'Town' sets into the early 80s too. Can't really complain though, as I know I always wanted one! And it's pretty much the inspiration behind every GBC!
I don't even know if it's based on something real, although I guess it's a condensed version of various gravel or sand loading depots. Though I'd normally expect if you've got an elevator it would fill hoppers then dump from those into trucks or train wagons by gravity. A loading crane as well seems superfluous.
Had hours of play with this set all them years ago. It still displays well in my Lego room.