Thomas Trains - magnet question

[JElaineB]

A couple of weekends ago I picked up a Thomas Interactive Learning Railway Percy engine at Target (plus a mail car) for around $7.50. It has a metal body but the package says compatible with Thomas Wooden Railway. The magnets are pointy square shaped magnets that seem to be "smart magnets" that work no matter what way you attach Percy and the mail car together. Over the weekend I ordered some "real" Thomas Wooden Railway stuff for DS's birthday and just got it today. I opened up James and was surprised to find the magnets are not "smart magents". James and his tender have to be in the correct magnetic orientation to work together. Plus, when you try to attach the Percy car to James or the James tender to Percy they don't really align at all. That's not a big deal since I only have one of the Interactive engines, but I am wondering about the smart magnet situation. I thought I had read that Thomas Wooden Railway had smart magnets. Is that wrong? DS doesn't seem to like the magnets anyway, he hasn't figured them out yet and gets frustrated with the trains, but that's another post! TIA for any info on the magnets!

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[Momof3Labs]

Okay, the ones that you got from Target are the metal ones, right? They are not compatible with the wooden ones (the magnets will go together, obviously, but they don't work with the wooden tracks). The wooden railway indeed does not have "smart" magnets, but it didn't take Colin long at all (probably by 18 months) to figure out how the magnets worked. Now he's a pro at getting a loooooooong train built and doesn't miss a beat if the magnets initially repel.

[JElaineB]

Ok, thanks Lori. Jacob can't figure out the magnets at all yet but I think he will get it eventually (hopefully!) He thinks the trains should physically link together (like with male/female connectors or something) and doesn't like that they don't. Right now he rips the trains apart and throws them on the ground because he doesn't like the magnets!

Also, the ones I got at Target are not the Take-Along Thomas. I think they are new - called "Thomas Interactive Learning Railway". The trains are the same size as the wooden trains and they do fit on the wooden track. But the magnets don't really line up with the wooden trains, so they won't be compatible in that sense, even though the package says "compatible with Thomas Wooden Railway".

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[JElaineB]

double post

[sarsah]

We have quite a collection of Thomas Wooden Railway cars, most purchased in the last year or so, maybe two years, and none of them have the 'smart' magnets. I just bought one today, in fact, at Michaels, to put away for Christmas and it has a plain old magnet. We did order "Emily" from Yoplit Yumsters, but it hasn't arrived yet. Emily is a new engine, so maybe the new ones are coming out with the smart magnets, I don't know.

DS#1 didn't really get into playing with the Thomas trains and not getting frustrated until he was about 3. Now he loves them and plays with them all the time. I can see DS playing with these trains for a long time.

If you DS is a Thomas fan, I highly recommend "Day Out With Thomas" if there is one near you. We went to Chattanooga last May and really enjoyed it.

Sarah.......mom to Devin (5/12/03) and Jason (5/25/00), Thomas' biggest fan!!!

[Momof3Labs]

Nope - we have all of the new ones, and none of them have "smart" magnets.

[Momof3Labs]

Give him time to understand the magnets. We just kept on showing Colin how they worked when we built trains for him, and he finally caught on. Initially, the ones with faces were easiest for him to put together - he seemed to understand that they had to all face the same direction. But then he figured out how to turn the other cars/tenders when he tried to put them together wrong.

Jacob has only had his trains for a week or so - that's not much time to figure out the magnets. He'll get there, though, and your house will soon be overrun with trains!!

[pamela mom of 3]

Hmm didn't know their was such a thing ;)
Anyhow all our Thomas have normal magnets, ds has learned which way they go.

Have they changed the magnets on the newest ones? We don't have anything that new, meaning this year.


~Pamela Mom to the Trio Of Trouble http://smilies.jeeptalk.org/otn/angels/newangel.gif



http://lilypie.com/baby4/010103/0/5/3/-6/.png

[JElaineB]

OK, I found out that the Thomas Interactive Learning Railway *is* new and does have the "smart magnets". It definitely isn't the same as the Thomas Wooden Railway, though the tracks are compatible. All of the Thomas Wooden Railway (including this year's new engines) has the regular old magnets, as Lori said. The Interactive Learning Railway isn't the same as Take-Along-Thomas, though the trains for the Interactive Learning Railway seem more like those than the traditional wooden trains. It's very confusing! :) I'm just sticking to the Wooden Railway stuff from now on!

Here is a link describing the 3 different systems from Learning Curve if anyone is interested:

http://www.learningcurve.com/ourProducts/thomas.asp

ETA: The Interactive Learning Railway is available exclusively at Target.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02