wood train sets- What to buy/not to buy?

[janiejones]

People who buy wood trains- can I get your reviews/raves/rants?

Freddie loves the trains at the library and play centre.
We're going to start looking for train stuff soon and I want to make sure the stuff we get all works together, and we don't waste cash on crap.

TIA.

[paddywagon]

We bought my son one of the Imaginarium brand wooden sets at Toys R Us. The train table with tracks was on sale around Christmas, two years ago, for $35. We've been really happy with it. A month or so ago we bought a few more of the Imaginarium train sets for expansion. We've been happy with those as well. They're also a lot cheaper than the Thomas the Train brand sets.

The sets are advertised as being compatible with the Thomas the Train sets. I know the trains will work on the sets, and would assume the track pieces would also fit as they look almost identical in size, etc.

[Captain Serious]

We have a kidkraft table with drawer like this one: www.amazon.com/KidKraft-Metropolis-Train-Trundle-Drawer/dp/B003AKSMES/ref=sr_1_5?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1394383955&sr=1-5&keywords=Train+table.

If you have the room, I highly recommend this brand and one of these types of tables. It confines everything to one space, doesn't use up your floor or one of your existing tables, and is very well made. The only thing is that putting together the raised portions of the track require screws and are fairly permanent, so it's not the kid of track your kid can get too creative with. You set it up once and that's it. Still, it's great and has become the center for all his trains, hot wheels, and Lego men/creations. Thank goodness for that big drawer below! Also, when they no longer use it, the top can be flipped over to show a finish that matches the rest of the table.

[psychmom]

We got the Imaginarium table at Toys r Us for $150 and it came with a big track set and lots of trains. Considering the track alone is roughly $60-$70 dollars and each train is $10 I considered it a VERY good deal.

[sailorgray]

We have a ton of Thomas stuff. I prefer Chuggington, though. The only wooden tracks I have had some issues fitting are the tracks from ikea. If you have Facebook yard sale sites, search there. I have gotten some great deals. I would also skip the train table. We never use ours bc we have so much track. The kids are happy setting up on the floor.

[EmilieMadison]

I'm SO impressed with the train set from Ikea. The basic set is only $10 (I think) and you can buy more tracks, more trains, etc. You can use other trains too (I think it's compatible with Thomas trains). It's very durable and so reasonably priced. 

[sailorgray]

Also, for moms of kids who love trains, check this out:

www.nationaltrainday.com/s/

We took our kids to the one in Philly last year and it was a blast. Everything was free, too. I highly recommend seeing if your local station is doing anything. Ours had actual trains we could tour that were set up like they'd be in the 30's. it was awesome and there was a lot for the kids to do, too.

[wysiwyg]

Ditto to frkls! Thomas has cool stuff, but only comes in bits and pieces. In general, it also doesn't work with other wood train sets, which is a bummer. IKEA had a cute train set and that set also works with the imaginarium train sets.
We bought a huge imaginarium train set for about 20 bucks the other day. The same set cost almost double for Thomas...

[sineadorebellion]

We have a very large imaginarium table from toysrus. I think it's the mountain one. The bridge lights up and makes sounds. But it came with lots of trains. The only downfall is its size. But I do know it is compatible with the wooden Thomas trains.

[nadasteph]

We bought the imaginarium brand sets for Christmas and its been great for the price.

[riverrider]

Mar 9, 2014 12:08:11 GMT -5 EmilieMadison said:

I'm SO impressed with the train set from Ikea. The basic set is only $10 (I think) and you can buy more tracks, more trains, etc. You can use other trains too (I think it's compatible with Thomas trains). It's very durable and so reasonably priced. 

Another vote for the IKEA set. We have purchased the started set and many add ons for the train and my son loves it. My parents have purchased some Thomas trains for him and they work well with the IKEA set.

I actually have bought so many of the starter sets and extra trains for my sons friends birthdays too.

[Deleted]

Idk, we have Thomas stuff and we love it. (shrug) and we have just two sets. Never felt the need to keep buying.

[iamgrace]

Thomas is the best for engines. We have several Thomas sets and many, many engines. Imaginarium and Melissa and Doug track is compatable with Thomas stuff. We've never had any issues whatsoever with stuff not working with other sets.

[cleo29]

1) AC Moore always has a ton of Thomas stuff on sale.

2) A lot of the train sets will work with other brands, so I would look into that, something you can mix and match.

[katiescarlett]

We have imaginarium table, track and trains, thomas track and trains, and brio trains. They are all compatible. Thomas is 50% off at AC Moore till Tuesday, then 40% off the rest of the week.

[cbwm1]

When Will was that age, we started him with the Ikea train set. About a year later, we got him the Imaginarium train table that he played with for three solid years. It was a sound investment.

[circa1978]

Henry started with a little bit of Thomas track and three engines handed down from his cousin. Now, we're a train superstore. He can literally play with "his engines" for four or five hours straight.

We have IKEA track, which works pretty well with the Fisher Price stuff - but not perfectly. He's getting some Orbrium for his birthday, along with a bridge from Melissa and Doug.

If you look on eBay, you can find the new Thomas wooden railway trains in lots for more than 50 percent off the list price. Amazon also will sometimes sell the trains for $10 and under - you kind of have to keep an eye out. I got our train table in perfect condition off Craigslist. But people selling used trains and track on CL and eBay are smoking some serious crack. I've seen them asking well more than you can buy at Amazon, Trains Galore or Happy Hen Toys - all of which sell most train lines at a discount.

[lostrn]

When DS was little we bought a huge set of generic tracks from Amazon. I bought lots of Thomas trains off of eBay and my parents were always buying him all sorts of wooden sets. They all seemed to work well together. Now I have a basement full of trains and track to get rid of, but it was a lot of fun for awhile. Oh, we a!so found a train table on craigslist in good shape that now is used for Legos. I felt like the train table limited his creativity a little bit and at times it was a pain to fit the track he had in mind to the space of the table, but it did keep the tracks somewhat contained.

[stephm0188]

We have a mix. Thomas, Imaginarium, IKEA, and some stuff we bought online. They all work together. We had a train table, but it really didn't get much use. He's happier making big sets on the floor. That's half the fun for him.

I store them in an under the bed box.

[catbus]

Mar 9, 2014 12:08:11 GMT -5 EmilieMadison said:

I'm SO impressed with the train set from Ikea. The basic set is only $10 (I think) and you can buy more tracks, more trains, etc. You can use other trains too (I think it's compatible with Thomas trains). It's very durable and so reasonably priced. 

Yes, the Ikea train set pieces are great. They're cheaper than the big name ones, yet not made in China (IIRC, our set is stamped "made in Bulgaria").

[auntie]

We have a lot of stuff. I prefer the Brio stuff for the quality- their paints do not chip and their track is perfectly smooth. We've been storing this in huge totes for almost 20 years and the Brio stuff has held up reallay well. Most wooden sets are somewhat compatible, but sometimes the +/-of the magnets are reversed which might bother a kid who is very rigid or specific around this.

I'm kind of anti-train table. It's an ideal open-ended toy; confining it to a table puts limits on the ways in which it can be used.

[lilac05]

Another vote for the IKEA tracks. I used the starter set for work for several years before I had kids. We moved away from an IKEA before DS was old enough to play with trains. We went to the store anyway and bought way too many sets to save for the following Christmas. We picked up several individual trains from Target & he got a set of letter trains to spell his name. They all work just fine on the tracks. The track that came with the letters fits, but not perfectly. He doesn't mind. No need to worry about compatibility with other tracks because he has more than enough tracks already.

No train table for us, either. Building tracks on carpet is a challenge, but he doesn't mind. He rarely builds a track small enough to fit on a table.

[MixedBerryJam]

Don't bother with a table, and stick with the noname brands. Look for sets at yard sales and cheapo sets at places like Big Lots. If you have to pay full price for anything, make it junctions. You never have enough junctions. And get at least one gender bender (same gender on both ends) because, like in life, in wooden trains you just never know when you might need to change genders! And he'll need a wooden whistle and an engineer's hat.

[Deleted]

IIWY, I'd buy cheaper tracks than the Thomas brand (like Ikea), but buy whatever trains s/he loves. JUST FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE BE SURE YOU'RE BUYING TRACK-READY THOMAS, AND NOT COLLECTOR THOMAS. The disappointment on DD's face when her new trains didn't fit on the Thomas tracks was heartbreaking. So now we have trains that fit and those that don't, but they all get dragged around.

[Deleted]

C got a KidKraft table with the Waterfall set for his 2nd birthday, and he's used it every day since; he's now 3 1/2. Thomas, Imaginarium, KidKraft, Melissa & Doug,  and Brio are all compatible, and we have a mix of things at this point. Thomas and Brio are better quality, especially with the trains, but there's nothing wrong with starting out with lower quality to see if they even like it or learn how they treat the toys. FWIW, C is just as likely to build a track off the table as on it these days, but it's great for packing away easily. One thing to make sure you get is some of the male-male or female-female track pieces, so you have more options for how the specialty pieces can be built in.

ETA: we don't have any IKEA in out area so never looked into that.

[janiejones]

So the Ikea track is okay? Some blogger wrote that the plastic fittings on their track don't work with other sets.
I love Ikea everything, and well the price is ideal so i was hoping to start with that track stuff.
I'm not sure we want a table because we have a small house. I'm okay with mess while he plays, so I think a bin system to play on the floor is good.

I was thinking of giving him his first train at Easter. I am certain if the word gets out all of his easter baskets will have trains or parts.


mixedberry- good call on keeping a look out for specific joining pieces.

[MixedBerryJam]

Sorry, but I had to dig out this photo and share. Legs McCutiepie there is 16 now and his big brother is 17 and off to college in 6 months! But you can see in this pic that we had about 6 different brands, including those orange plastic ones. Stay away from the plastic ones; the nibs break off.
Attachment Deleted

[fitgirl03]

We bought the ikea sets. That Thomas shit is way over priced.

[adhdfashion]

My kids have had the Ikea train sets for couple years. Still good as new.

[jld1878]

Brio is wonderful. And we have a couple of the motorized Thomas sets