Trains info and advice?

[Melaine]

We have never had any trains but due to fortituous bargain happenstance....that's what DS will be getting for Christmas from us. I just bought a Large train table with two drawers. I think it is kidkraft. It looks like this: http://www.kidkraft.com/toys-and-playsets/trains/17967 but it didn't come with anything. Fortunately, I picked up a box of wooden tracks a few weeks ago for a couple of dollars. I also have some structure like station and water tanks packed away that I got a few years ago (whole bag for $1.50...couldn't say no). So anyway, my question is are all the wooden tracks compatible? I can't find any distinguishing marks on them. If I buy random trains are they likely to fit? Anything else I should know about this? TIA

[lizzywednesday]

We have a basic, oval, Thomas the Tank Engine (Thomas's Wooden Railway) set with Thomas, Percy, and a caboose.

The tracks are probably compatible with everything except PBK. PBK tracks seem to have plastic knobs where the Thomas, KidCraft, and IKEA ones have jigsaw-cut tongues.

As for trains, I've heard here that some of the Thomas trains are too tall to go underneath non-Thomas Wooden Railway bridges & tunnels.

Hope this helps!

[BDKmom]

IME, the wooden tracks are all compatible. You may run across the random piece here or there that won't line up or is hard to put together with another piece, but by and large they all work. Otherwise the only problem I have found with putting different stuff together is what PP mentioned about some trains being too tall for some tunnels.

Sounds like you got some great deals, and I'm sure your DS will have a blast with them!

ETA: As far as random trains fitting, that shouldn't be a problem as long as they are all for wooden tracks. For example, Thomas makes a "take-n-play" line and a "track master" line. Those don't work with wooden tracks.