He’s got creative block: Lego modeler creates miniature GRT bus
Ethan Thompson likes buses.
The 22-year-old St. Catharines resident builds buses from Lego, and recently added Grand River Transit vehicles to his collection.
His first GRT model was a small-scale copy of the Nova hybrid buses that joined the fleet in 2022, complete with its unique hybrid livery.
His growing collection is made up of over 20 buses, with a range of different years, makes and models across transit services. He decided to start building GRT vehicles after seeing the fleet in Cambridge, during visits to his girlfriend.
“Every time I watched the GRT buses pass by, I was intrigued to see the designs GRT had in comparison to Niagara Region Transit. The GRT designs are all very clean and interesting, and I decided it was time to design and build my own Lego versions.”
Thompson even recreated the bike rack on the bus’s front, and custom-printed stickers to make his bus look just like the real thing.
He was inspired to start building models by his late grandfather Garnet Thompson, who worked as an operator for GO Transit for 42 years. His father has also worked for Niagara Region Transit for the last two years.
“I have every hope of following in the footsteps of my father and grandfather to become the third generation of transit operators in my family,” said Thompson.
While his first Nova hybrid model is still waiting on wheels, he plans to keep building out his GRT collection.
“For now, I am going to build the ones I enjoy the most and go from there. I normally just build until I feel my models are complete and accurate.”
His favourite GRT bus?
‘I’m a big fan of the New Flyer ION Bus. That blue, it’s just so clean.”