I have been building our Thomas train set slowly with garage sales and craigslist [on craigslist the blue track is very hard to find]. Someone in my area has the Thomas Ultimate Set [blue plastic track], missing one piece, for $80 and I am wondering if I should really spend $80 on more tracks? It seems like a good deal compared to ebay [and shipping from ebay] and amazon [but amazon always seems to have prices WAY over what they should be]. I wonder, how long will he even play with them? My friend's 11 year old enjoyed building a train with my son, but I don't know if he would really like to own his own set at 11 years old. Also, I know they've stopped making the blue track which is all that we have, and wonder if the fact that it's rare will help me sell it for more later, or the fact that it's old and they don't make it anymore will mean that no one will want to buy it from me in the future?
Thank you for your responses! I decided to go ahead and buy it, even if it might lose its value over time. I hadn't really thought about saving it for grandkids- but I think that would be really cool! These plastic pieces will last forever. Thanks again
My husband's grandfather is 82 and has just started giving his train sets away. He says he is finally too old and needs them to have a good home. :o) He was also a train engineer back in the day.
My boys are 10 and 22 and gave up trains about 7ish. They were really never "into" them. Now Lego's, that's another story
Mine stopped playing with their trains about age 4.
I think MOST boys quit playing with them by the time they are around 7. But all boys are different. I remember when I took my son to the Holiday Junction at the museum (it's an annual train thing they do with lots of model trains set up all over) and he was mesmerized by the trains. I was talking to one of the owners of the model trains, and said how much my son LOVED trains. And he said, "It won't last. All three year olds love trains. He'll outgrow it." (At the time, I was thinking, well, you apparently didn't!)
Flash forward 9 years. My 12 yo son still loves trains, still is in awe when we see a real one, still watches, mesmerized, at how they work, and still will play sometimes with his wooden Brio trains. He doesn't play with them that often, and mostly when other kids want to play with them, but he still does.
So - I think, since your son is only three, you should invest in it.
If you break it down, even if he stops playing with them in only TWO years, that gives him 24 months of playing with them. Which is $3.33 per month, which is just over a dime a day. A dime a day is pretty cheap for keeping your child entertained and allowing him to use and expand his imagination and creativity. Not to mention the various ways he can put together the tracks....VERY good for his cognitive skills!
Blessings.
I have a HUGE Thomas the Train set at my house. The boys only played with it from age 3 to maybe 4 1/2. Now it just sits in the closet waiting for my next boy.
My kids still love them. They're 10,7 & 2. They've asked for the big expensive HO & Lionel sets even so I don't think trains are going away any time soon in my house.
The blue track is compatible with a more greyish color track they now make. Not the Take Along but theTrackmaster I think they call it now, might be wrong and that's the old name though. We have a bunch of both. I don't know if it would make a difference for resale.
I plan to pack the trains away for the grandkids. We've spent a great deal on them and they hold up and will make great heirloom.
My son has the table, tracks and tons of the "parts" to his set. At 3, he LOVES it! We have gotten a lot of those "parts" from friends whose children are "over it" by 2nd grade.
The plastic track pieces don't retain their value. People are typically looking for the wooden sets.
My neighbor sold her T the T set (table and all) to a daycare owner for $25. It's so big and her kids were too old- just wanted it out of her house! You don't say how old your son is, but if he's getting close to 7 or 8, I wouldn't invest more in it.
We sold all his Thomas stuff when he was 7.
11? Yikes! My kid stopped playing w/his trains regularly at 4 :(
Alan did Thomas from 2 to 6. He was in kindergarten when he gave it up. I packed up the the wooden and take along trains and the books and stored them away. At almost 9 he doesn't like mention of Thomas now, but Mommy and Daddy miss it :(
My son will be 9 in October, and amazingly he still loves his trains, he has I believe every set and train in existence, because he has been into Thomas since he was 2.
You can always sell Thomas stuff, and you can get a blue piece of track on ebay. Personally my son prefers the gray take along track, with the two prongs on it, the blue track always drove him crazy because it is a one way fit, one prong on one end and one sticky out bit on the other, sometimes you will build a whole elaborate track, then get to the last bit, and guess what, you have two sticky out bits facing each other! (don't believe me? you will laugh and remember this post!!.) Also the blue track is kind of tricky, as it comes apart a lot, it does not "click" into position, and remains always a bit loose.
The brown/grey trackmaster track is much easier, and really firmly stays together, plus it is not one way.
How long he'll play with it is a good question and one that has no answer. You can always pack it all up and save it till your son has his own kids and then you pull out the old relic and by that time you'll know for sure if it's something that a collector would pay good money for.
My older son loves trains always has. Last year we moved the train table and wooden trains into storage he was 8. My youngest never played with it and my oldest rarely did. My oldest wants a model train set now but we don't have the space. I wouldn't invest too much into Thomas they grow out of it. I'd look for regular trains that dont have faces they will get more use out of it.
My son only played with Thomas the Train tracks and trains for about a 1 year and a half. Then is was on to the next new fad! Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story things and a year later its now Super Heros. Im not sure if all kids are like this but my son is seems to be moving onto something else every year.
