Getting into trains...

[Zoey187]

My DS is turning two and we have gotten him a train table for Christmas. Now I am starting to look at train sets. Out of all the brands out there:

Thomas
Melissa and Doug
Circo
Brio
Imaginarium
Learning First

What is the better brand to go with? I know Thomas is expensive and seems like the most popular out there. Are there any reviews on any of the other brands by some of you moms out there? I mainly want to know about Circo (targets brand) and Imaginarium. How well do these brands go with the Thomas stuff? But would love to hear about any others as well.

Thanks for all the help in advanced! I never thought I would have to be this intuned to "choo choo's!"

[edurnemk]

We have a LOT of Thomas Engines but we have the Imaginarium Train Table (and some small Thomas sets). They are perfectly compatible, you can mix Thomas and Imaginarium tracks. I have no complaints. And it cost like 5 times less than the Thomas table, tracks, and accessories required for the same setup.

[lalasmama]

Our $20 set from Target (thier brand of toys that they do at Christmas) is still going strong. We got it when my first niece was a toddler, so about 7 years ago. Both DN and DD still play with it a lot. It is compatible with all the other wood train sets, which was one reason we chose it as our "starter" set--so much more affordable than buying name-brand tracks

[crl]

Ikea trains and tracks are also compatible and very inexpensive.

Catherine

[jammytoast]

Thomas is expensive but holds its value and can be easily had in lots via craigslist. And then resold 5 years later ;-)

[brittone2]

Most of our stuff was Thomas because it was less expensive (using coupons) at the time we purchased most of our train stuff. We have some random Costco track/trains from their train table, and some Ikea and a few Brio items as well.

Two other brands
Whittle Shortline Railroad (expensive the last I checked)
Maplelandmark has a scale of train the same size as Thomas and Brio. These are actually rather affordable and made in the USA but we don't own any. http://www.maplelandmark.com/nametra...ains_wrs.lasso . We have some other products from this company and we really enjoy those toys.

I think for resale purposes Thomas and Brio will hold their value best. The lead paint on the Learning Curve Thomas pieces a few years ago was a turn off to me even though we only had 1-2 items affected. I'm sure they are using tighter standards now (hopefully) but that was irritating considering the price.

[zag95]

Not to steal- but do you know if Thomas trains are compatible with Kidcraft? I bought DD a train for Christmas - a Kidcraft set from Costco and am thinking about adding addl trains- are there trains that work with that set?

Thanks for this train thread!

[brittone2]

Originally Posted by zag95

Not to steal- but do you know if Thomas trains are compatible with Kidcraft? I bought DD a train for Christmas - a Kidcraft set from Costco and am thinking about adding addl trains- are there trains that work with that set?

Thanks for this train thread!

Most wooden trains are compatible with other wooden train sets. Sometimes the fit might be a little awkward when combining track from different sets (for example our curved Ikea track pieces are sometimes tough to fit with some of our Thomas tracks). The Thomas trains are too tall to fit underneath some of the overpasses/tunnel things on the Ikea set (but you could configure so that isn't necessary) Overall the wood sets are pretty much compatible w/ the other wooden sets though, with a few caveats. We have a mix of Thomas, Brio, Kidkraft that came w/ the Costco train table a few years ago, and Ikea.

[jvs195]

We have a mixture, but mostly THomas because it turned out to be cheapest with AC Moore/Michael's 50% off coupons and I've sold plenty of it and still have a bunch. DS was initially into the characters, but now he likes the non-Thomas trains (Brio, Imaginarium, Lionel) all work together and it's nice to have a mix.

[MacMacMoo]

We started SqueekMoo on trains early. We had started him on the wooden Thomas trains and were going to get the chicco set from target or a kidcraft set however he didn't like dealing with loose tracks. He liked the wooden ones glued down. Wooden Thomas turned into a diaper bag toy to be pulled out at resturants and in rhe car.

We ended up getting GeoTracks. My dad had bught use a nice set off ebay and it was a hit so we got another to lot sets of CL and are set for life. We put all the building in storage along with tracks dealing with height into storage. We kept all the level tracks and all the trains at home. He loves lining up the trains. Something he plays with the tracks most time he drags the trains all over the place without track. The track was easy for him to manipulate at 18 months, and get easier over time. He never built a normal loop but that doesn't seem to phase him.

We higly recommend geotrax. great for a huge range of ages.