Train set

[sethsmom]

BRIO, Thomas,Learning Curve, Melissa & Doug, Maxim, TC Timbers, etc.
What's your favorite? Why? Any problems with any of these?

I'm trying to decide for DS's second birthday. Thanks.

[new_mommy25]

We're Thomas folk. With the exception of the recent lead paint incident we have been very happy with them. Thomas is made by Learning Curve.

[hillview]

We have the M&D train and it seems great (only had it for a couple of weeks) -- it is played with daily.
GOOD LUCK!
/hillary

[greatcanuk]

We have the Ikea train stuff, which I started with to see if DD liked trains.

Then I heard about a Brio sale (from this board, of course) with prices a lot lower than other online prices I found. I can't resist a good bargain, so I stocked up. Plus, I liked the idea of being able to use the Plan City roadway stuff with the Brio railway stuff. I love the quality and I liked that Brio trains were non-specific and didn't have faces (the Thomas stuff is kind of ugly to me) with no tie-in products, no related TV show. I also liked the little poseable people that come with some of the Brio trains, as my daughter always incorporates doll play with her train play. Brio and Plans Toys are made with ISO certification, which I think means their factories have to meet a stringent standard. I don't know if Learning Curve/Thomas has this or not.

Shortly afterwards, I was happy to receive a second-hand Thomas set, so that I could finally compare. I always wondered what the Thomas stuff was like, because of its popularity. I only wished I had received it before I went crazy with Brio. Anyway, my general impression is that Thomas has a lot of cool gadget-y things you can do, but is also more specific--specific places, specific trains, so that you are kind of sucked into "collecting" them. Don't get me wrong, you can definitely get sucked into Brio too. However, Brio is more generic--you can kind of pretend you are anywhere. Also it is less gender-specific; my daughter associates Thomas as a boy's toy.

Just an insight into my philosophy/thinking. HTH.

Camille

[Jen841]

We have a Battat (sp) table that gets played with daily. <$50 at Marshalls a few years ago. In addition, we have a room filling about of Geo Trak that the boys LOVE. J got his first set at 2 and the set has been growing and both love it and can do it themselves. I can't say enough good things about GeoTrak!

[greatcanuk]

For those of you looking for a Thomas set--

Amazon's Deal of the Day is Thomas Wooden Railway A Day at the Works for $89.99, with free super saver shipping.

Camille

[punkrockmama]

>We're Thomas folk. With the exception of the recent lead
>paint incident we have been very happy with them. Thomas is
>made by Learning Curve.


Same here exactly. I have heard that Thomas is interchangable with brio and maybe maxim too? Not really sure, but I think that's what I've seen around here.

[kcimato]

Ditto on the Geo trax.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Geotrax. No choking hazards for the under 3s and lots of fun. Much bigger hit in my house all around than the Thomas sets we have. Cheaper too.

Beth

[hellokitty]

My kids have some wooden thomas, plastic thomas (tomy), target's learning tree brand, and geo-trax. I myself prefer the wooden stuff, BUT my kids seem to like the plastic stuff better. They LOVE the plastic thomas trains, take them everywhere and fight over them. They also adore the geo-trax. They like the wooden trains when they want to magnetically link things together.

Personally, for a 2 yr old, I find that if you think he might be interested in linking up tracks, get the geo-trax (on clearance right now at target, certain peices). They are so easy to link together, my oldest son was very frustrated with the wooden tracks up until the past few months, he could only link the geo-trax. Also, another good thing about the geo-trax is that there are TONS of stuff, not only can you get the trains, but they have cars, trucks, construction tractors, etc. When your kids are younger, they won't be into the motorized trains and other moveable stations and accessories, but the cool thing about geo-trax is that I feel it grows with your kids, b/c they have controllers they can use when they are older. It's just a matter of getting the a vehicle with the controller and everything can still be used with it.

I know my nephew who is now 10 started out in love with wooden thomas stuff. When he got a little bit older, he ditched like $1000 worth of wooden thomas stuff and wanted the expensive $300 motorized lionel sets. I think the geo-trax does a nice job of letting kids transition from being the first train set to a preschooler early elem train set and then when they are old enough to be careful and gentle with expensive toys, and are still interested in trains you can get them the really nice lionel motorized trains.

Personally, I'm feeling some regret for getting my kids any thomas stuff at all. My oldest son is not too bad about it, but my youngest son (will be 2 in less than a month) is head over heels obsessed with thomas. I envision him being as obsessed as my nephew was. We know someone whose son has outgrown his massive wooden thomas collection and is thinking about selling it to us. So, if we get anymore wooden thomas, I plan on getting it used, it's just so expensive. He's totally sucked in and I feel like the whole commercialism aspect of thomas has kicked in, b/c of the obsession with all of the different characters. My oldest son is not the same way, he loves trains, ALL kinds of trains, but isn't specifically nutso about thomas like my youngest son.

[Tondi G]

I guess I'm the only one who isn't in love with the Geo trax. DS got a few sets for his 2nd bday and we already have a ton of wooden tracks/trains from DS#1. I ended up sending the Geotrax over to my moms house so they have some trains to play with there. DS always gets totally frustrated with the trains falling off the track with it. He has no trouble getting the trains on the wooden tracks and all linked up. I prefer the wooden trains. We have a mix of Thomas, Brio, IKEA, Target generic brand and a big ol Imaginarium set my MIL got for my 1st DS. They all work together well and have held up to many years of abuse! I guess I like the Brio track best though... some of the less expensive stuff gets stuck from time to time when breaking down the tracks the boys have built.... never a problem with the Brio tracks!

When is your DS's 2nd birthday? If it later on in the year hold out for the train table and train set that Costco always has for Christmas! People seem to be quite happy with it!

Good Luck
~Tondi

[nupe]

Also not a geotrax fan. DS is 3 and mastered building with wooden thomas track and bridges a long time ago. Although he *loves* geotrax, I don't, because the track comes apart and he can't reassemble it on his own. So I put it away for when he is older.

We have mostly Thomas track and some brio too. Caveat, you can't use the brio track to go up hills w/battery Thomas trains, but you can to go down the hills okay.