I know it has been asked before, but which trains for 2yo??

[WatchingThemGrow]

MIL wants to "start" DS1 a train collection. The junky wooden one from the consignment sale isn't interesting, big or cool enough for DD and DS1.

Seems like several threads suggest Geotrax, but I want a fresh suggestion for our application if you don't mind giving them. Here is our situation...
We have a PBK train table in the living room. This is our main room and it is pretty small. There is no closet for extra pieces/boxes of stuff, just the trundles underneath. We CAN move the train table to one of the kids' rooms if necessary to keep DS2 away from it when he starts crawling.

MIL lives really close to Michael's and AC Moore and would be fine with getting a coupon from the paper each week and buy it piece by piece if we went with Thomas stuff. Is that even the "good" Thomas stuff to begin with? She's also okay with getting a batch of stuff from Craigslist. He can get some for his b'day in Nov. and they can also give more to the 3 DC collectively for Christmas. We could likely find someone to make the trundle thing that brittone2 linked to in an earlier thread. We were at the local indy toy store today and saw Sure Track there. What's the verdict on that?

Thanks for any suggestions you have. We're going away this week, so I'll be packing some, reading some, and I'll need to have the decision made before we leave on Thurs. She wants to know what we're going with soon.

[KrisM]

I like the wooden trains. I think it's easier to make layouts, as the pieces are more forgiving than the plastic Geotrax. We do have both.

Probably, for a 2 year old, the Geotrax is slightly better, but very soon it won't matter. We started at 20 months with wood and had a few months of things getting knocked (SureTrack helps tons!).

Also, Geotrax won't go on a train table, as it's pretty big.

Michael's carries a nice selection of Thomas. We have tons of Thomas trains and destinations. Most of our track is generic. We started with an inexpensive set from Target and added some Thomas trains to it.

[brittone2]

We did mostly Thomas (and AC Moore/Michaels carry the regular wooden Thomas just like any other wooden Thomas) because of the 40% and 50% off deals. That was years ago though, and my kids have never really been into the Thomas characters...and then with the lead recall, for a long time I was really fed up with that company.

Maplelandmark has some non-commercialized trains that are made in the USA. They have several scales (I think 3 different scales/sizes) but one is compatible with Brio/Thomas wooden stuff. Since they don't have commercial characters to license, the price is pretty reasonable without a coupon, but YMMV. My only experience w/ them as far as trains was a bigger scale train (their Midget line) set MIL got DS when he was a 1 year old. I have never seen their trains that are the same scale as Thomas/Brio wooden items in real life.
These are the ones that are the same scale as Brio/Thomas:
http://www.maplelandmark.net/nametrains/nametrains_wrs.lasso

Definitely a different look from Thomas so that may or may not work for you and your kids. They do offer customizable trains for bdays, Christmas, etc. which is kind of cool for adding on or keeping as an heirloom.

Whittle Shortline is really nice but very $$$.

We never used Geotrax (I've heard you really want room to spread those out?) but DS had no problem with wooden trains from 2 on. The train table and his play kitchen were how he spent most of his time from age 2-3.

[Bella's Mommy]

You cannot go wrong with wood Thomas the tank engine. My big boy started loving Thomas when he was 1 and now 7, still plays trains with his little brother almost every day. We literally have hundreds of trains and all the accessories (sheds, roadhouse, iron works, etc). If your ds ends up loving Thomas trains (also in plastic battery movable & smaller takealong metal), you can then branch out to all other Thomas stuff - books, legos, puzzles, art sets, DVDs, etc - there are tons of stuff to add to the list as he gets older. IMO, the best thing about Thomas is their quality (now even better after the past lead paint problem) and the fact that the trains foster very imaginative/creative play. Other wood trains lose their paint, wheels fall off or break and the wood splits or splinters. Not to mention the fact that the Thomas stories are perfect for kids - heartwarming stories with no violence (no smashing another on the head with a hammer), weapons or "bad" words which you find in a lot of cartoons these days. Toys R Us also runs frequent sales on Thomas as does Target. Happy shopping!

[The Review Mommy]

We have a TON of wooden trains so BTDT. If I had to do it over again here's what I'd do:

If you can get a Nilo table and the M&D set that would be ideal. I got our multi activity table off Craigslist for $80, looks new and we have the fitted double sided base plates for Duplo and Lego for when my kids want to build. The legs adjust and the lip is nice for keeping art supplies on the table. Top quality. The M&D set is fantastic lots of fun destinations without alot of filler like trees and people. Lots to do with this set and cheap on Amazon. My DS loves sounds and lights so he has a couple of thomas trains that have a light and choo choo sounds as its being pushed. He plays with those the most and that cookie variety pack i think with chocolare, butter, eggs, sugar, and flour.

http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Wooden-Railway/dp/B000FIN2E8/ref=pd_ys_qtk_k2a_1

http://www.nilotoys.com/products.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Friends-Wooden-Railway-Lights/dp/B000BR0FXO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1255974331&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Friends-Wooden-Railway-Troublesome/dp/B000UW1ODU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1255974234&sr=1-1

ETA We've had trains on the floor too but my 2 year old twins love it the most on the table so they can walk around freely and just play. Easier for them, and they can move out of each others way better. We have the suretrack, couldn't live without it.

[carolinamama]

We started Thomas slightly under that age. We have some Brio track and Thomas track that are all interchangable. DS did fine with it at that age and I would put the track together and if he messed it up, I didn't put it back immediately. SureTrack is nice for that age. You can start small and add for birthdays and holidays. Your PBK table should work fine. We didn't have a separate playroom in our last house and our Nilo activity table complete with Thomas setup was our coffee table. We have had our trains out many times with DS2 around. It has not been too much of a problem although sometimes we have waited to build more detailed tracks until he's taking a nap so he doesn't mess them up! I know lots of people say to wait until kids are older for wooden trains, but we would have missed a big window of play if we had since DS1 doesn't play with them nearly like he did between 2-3. Now he mainly likes to build fun track layouts.