Thomas trains

[nigele]

Even though my son is still little, I want to start a Thomas the Tank Engine collection for him. I figure he can start playing with them at Christmas with his Dad. I know they're pricey but was wondering if anyone can tell me where can I find them at the best prices.

TIA!

[sarsah]

They are pretty much the same price everywhere, so you really have to look for a deal.
I've had some luck at discount stores like TJ Maxx or Marshall's, mostly for the individual train cars. Sometimes the on-line toy stores (e-toys/kbkids, smarter kids, etc.) have some sets on sale or clearance, but that's kind of hit or miss.

Some Micheal's (arts & crafts) stores carry them and you can use your 40% off coupon that comes in the newspaper most weeks. I think some A.C. Moore stores also carry Thomas and take competitors (Michael's & JoAnn's) coupon, but we don't have A.C. Moore here in Atlanta, so I don't know for sure.

You can always buy the Thomas train cars and a generic track set. Target sells a generic set and I've heard that some of the warehouse stores (Costco/Sams) sell a train set with table for a good price.

Sarah.......Jason & Devin's Mommy

[SeekerMage]

I second getting the tracks and accessories in a generic form. I know Walmart has a 75 piece set for about 20$....and Target has something similar as well. As for the train peices...I have seen them on ocassion at Tuesday Morning. Also check KB Toys if you have one in your area, they have a lot of good sales and I think that they carry the trains. If not...ebay is another good place to look!

[raynjen]

I third the notion of the "Generic" trains. We got a Little Tree (Target) train set for last Christmas when my DD was 14 months and she loved it then and now. One suggestion, they can play with it at a young age, but they can very easily knock the tracks apart which completely frustrates them and whoever is working with them (in my case ME). We didn't want to glue the track down since we like the imagination component that is involved. Instead I bought a small Berber carpet (closed loop carpet 4' x 6') and glued/stapled a hook piece of velcro to the bottom of each straight track piece (the curved ones have to be able to flip over to make different configurations). It didn't work perfectly, but it was a happy compromise to gluing them all down somewhere.

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (10/25/01)

By the way, don't use your regular Berber carpet for this as, over time, the loops start to fray and get fuzzy.

[luvbeinmama]

Another alternative if you want to temporarily "glue" the tracks down to a table is to use earthquake putty (or museum putty). It works REALLY well, and is totally removable!

[lukkykatt]

Someone gave DS a generic set of wooden trains and tracks as a gift. He loves Thomas, so we have supplemented with the Thomas trains and some of the more specialized pieces like Train stations etc, and that has worked really well.

I know many stores like BJ's are carrying the generic trainsets now at good prices. If you are only interested in Thomas, there are a few times of the year that they go on sale at Zainy Brainy and Amazon.

[nigele]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Our local Learning Express is having a birthday sale and I got an Introductory Thomas train set at 20% off. It came with an electronic Thomas plus another train, enough track to build a figure eight, a couple of tunnels plus some other things. I bought one additional train and figured that would be enough for now (actually, these will be Christmas presents.) I will buy more generic track later on and will focus on the Thomas trains to go with it - great idea! :-)

Oh, and I love the museum putty idea for holding the tracks down!