Which Figure 8 Thomas set?

[geochick]

Which Figure 8 Thomas train set do you like best for a starter set for a 2 year old? Water Tower or Conductor's? TIA.

[new_mommy25]

Either one is a good choice. My almost 2 year old loves his water tower. We don't have the conductor but I am going to buy it because he enjoys playing with the one at the store.

[brittone2]

I'm curious too as we're just starting to collect Thomas/Brio trains for DS who is 17 months. He's been interested in them for a few months now but when we go to places like Barnes and Noble that have a train table, he seems to be really getting into pushing the trains through the tunnels and over the bridges for short periods of time.

His number one favorite thing to play with whenever there is a table set up is the water tower though. He loooooves it for some reason :)

[August Mom]

I don't think you can go wrong with either. DS loves both the water tower and the conductor's shed. He thinks it is so fun to put the arm on the conductor's shed down and tell the trains they have to stop. He also enjoys giving the trains a drink. The bridges are comparable. FWIW, you get 3 cars with the Conductor's Figure 8 set (Thomas, a box car and the Sodor Line Caboose - which I love because it makes me nostalgic - I always loved seeing the caboose when I was little) and only 2 with the water tower set (Thomas and a cargo car). If you are getting Cranky, the cargo car would be cool because it has a magnet on the cargo that Cranky can lift. You get one of these with Cranky, I think, but this would give you 2. The signs/figures also are slightly different, but IME that's not a big deal.

[kensjen]

We just went through this decision last week! :) I ended up getting the conductor's set. Jonah has seemed to like stopping the train with it at the store. Also, you get the extra car and the one we bought had a bonus included...four 4" pieces of straight track. So it seemed like slightly a better deal. But the water tower is cool as well, so you really can't go wrong.

My mom was with us and got us an expansion set and a bunch of other cars, so I think Jonah is set for awhile. I can see this is going to be an expensive venture. :) The good news is he has played with it non stop since we gave it to him on Friday (his bday).