so my son (20mo) is head-over-heels obsessed with Thomas. i've gotten him a few trains and one basic set from TJ Maxx (that was like $13) and that's the first thing he asks to play with when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap. i wanted to get him a bigger set for the holidays/his birthday but i just about fell over when i saw how $$$ the regular wooden sets/trains were. so off to CL i went.
i was able to snag a few decent deals. All in all, i paid $250 for several large lots of stuff (trains, tracks, accessories, storage chest,etc). That sounds like a lot, but when i went online and priced everything out, it was over $1500!!! . I got a wooden Thomas storage chest, over 60 trains (including several limited edition/rare trains), TONS of track and several accessories/destinations (roundhouse, several mountains, mines, water tower, Cranky, etc).
my DH thought i was nuts, and he kept saying how he didn't believe how much this stuff was, and why do I have to buy used. I showed him on amazon/TRU website how much these things usually cost retail and his jaw was just dropping. anyway, my son is all set for Christmas, his birthday (two weeks after), and potty-training rewards/bribes for the next several months!!
the pic attached is just one of the lots i got, which is just the half of it. yesterday i snagged another large lot similar in size (without a roundhouse, and not as many trains but more tracks, accessories) that included a thomas storage chest.
now the next problem is to hide this all from my son for the next few months...