Thomas Train Set or Other Brand?

We have a Melissa and Doug train set, but the table I made from a old coffee table I had (it was exactly the right size for trains). I have been very happy with the Melissa and Doug product. We have just one Thomas train for my 2 year old, and he is happy with that. We have friends that have all the Thomas stuff, and in my opinion, it is a bit much, both cost and just general stuff. I prefer to watch my son pretend that his other trains are "Percy" or "Emily" and use his imagination a little bit.

I know two Mom's who bought their train tables at Target and were very happy with them. I think they were on sale last year before x-mas for about $70.

J.
SAHM to 2 year old Charlie and 11 month old Joey

We have a HUGE collection of wooden train items. We have mixed all brands (Thomas, Brio, Imaginarium, Melissa&Doug, and generic) and I have no complaints about any of it. I have only had one item break and it was a Thomas grain elevator, but they sent me a replacement.

We started with the Imaginarium train table that has a drawer. It was a good way to go when my son was younger, now he wants to make really huge layouts (takes up the entire spare bedroom...lol). My son loves the Thomas characters but has even been happy calling one of the blue Imaginarium engines "Gordon".

Choo Choo Bobs Train Shop in St. Paul is a great place to go to check out Thomas and Brio (they also have some off brands).

We bought the imaginarium set from Toys R Us, with the table and it is great. Our son absolutely LOVES Thomas, so we filled in with some Thomas brand engines. There aren't any coaches in the Thomas brand, so the imaginarium set really fills in nicely for that kind of thing. Our son really loves his train table and will play with it for hours. Its definitely worth the money savings to go with the cheaper set.

Hi - I went with a track set from sportsmansguide.com, not as expensive but very nice. We didn't go with a table because my son loved to redo his track all the time! We all used to get down on the floor and build tracks with him. He is now 12 years old and the track looks as good as new. It also works with the Thomas trains. It comes with cars too. I know the same track set has been on ebay for alot more, they must get it from here and resell it. He still has all of his trains and the track, the only thing he won't get rid of. All of his trains are on a display shelve now in his room. Once a train lover - forever a train lover! : )

You ARE lucky with a husband like that! Congrats!

My daughter just REALLY got into trains now at 2 yrs, although she was always taken by them even at 1 yr old. She has pretty definite opinions about what she likes, and seriously goes crazy when she sees THOMAS in particular. She really makes a big deal about the faces and their expressions, and sleeps with, feeds, and talks to the 2 engines she has. So, in her case, it wasn't really a viable option to get another brand of trains that didn't come with characters and storyline. She enjoys manipulating the detailed Thomas brand destinations, bridges, etc; in my opinion they do have the flashiest extras like that.

Most of the other moms I know have gotten off-brands for their kids (Brio, Melissa and Doug, Ikea, etc), because of the cost factor. All of those wooden items are compatible with Thomas wooden as well, so you could mix and match. I have heard no complaints regarding durability. Personally, I wanted cheaper Thomas, so I got most of my stuff off of eBay (both new and used); also, the Michaels craft store by me carries a limited supply of Thomas and always has that 40% off coupon in each Sunday paper if you are willing to buy only one item a week :-)

In regard to the train table itself, I even saw one at Sam's Club this AM for $100 - they are everywhere. Most people I know use either their coffee table, a coffee table gotten from the thrift shop and therefore just for trains, have made a train table, or just use the playmats offered by lines such as Thomas.

I guess my biggest question if I were you would be, are my girls really into this enough to warrant about $200-$300+ on this all at once? If you know for sure they are, then I don't think you can go wrong any way you go. I think the durability is good for any major brand you buy, especially if your kids aren't violent players, and the Thomas resale value seems especially high. However, if my girls only slightly had an interest in trains, I'd start out with a Figure-8 set and some engines, and slowly add a little more track, destinations, etc, as they showed sustained interest. I'd let them play on the coffee table or the floor until I knew they were into it, then get the train table. Just a thought.

Good luck!
T.

I think there was just a recall with Thomas Train stuff. I'm sure they fixed there recall but keep that in mind for trust with the company.

I just got a sale ad in the mail today for LakeShore Learning Store. (teachers store) a wooden train set 100 piece $29.99! You'd have to figure out a table or whatever this is just for the train stuff.
They're located in Maplewood or St.Louis Park

I think your girls would enjoy this and get alot of use out of it. My daughter is 6 and still runs over to play with the one at toys r us or the one at the store Hannah Anderson

I have two boys and a train set took over our family room for several years! I am not familiar with the Toys R Us brand, but I would stay away from the Target brand train set. There is a big difference in quality and the track doesn't fit together as well as in the more expensive brands. We were very happy with both the Thomas track and the Brio track and they are interchangeable. We actually used Brio track at first with the Thomas engines and cars because they are more interesting than the Brio trains. At the time the Thomas track wasn't as good as the Brio track, but they have since upgraded it. I would also look into the current status of the recall of the Thomas trains (shouldn't affect the track though) since your kids are so little. Have they resolved the lead paint issues? My husband built our train table (not something I would necessarily recommend) and we found that the boys outgrew it. They wanted to build layouts that were bigger than the table allowed and they liked to change their layouts frequently, getting quite elaborate as they got older. Whatever you choose, we found that it is worth it to spend more on the higher quality track because it is much easier to work with and stays together better. Have fun!

We have an Imaginarium train table from Toys R US, and its quality is outstanding! Its plain wood, light stain, and its very sturdy, high quality. It came with wooden track and a bunch of trains, a roundhouse, people, little buildings and cars, and it was $100. THen what we did is buy them some Thomas trains to go with it.

I think the THomas train table was well over $300, and it didn't come with any tracks or trains. We got ours for $100, with tons of track and trains, and then we just purchased a few Thomas trains for them.

AGain the quality of our Imaginarium train table is great, its very sturdy and every bit as good as the Thomas train tables, at about 1/4 of the price. I would recommend saving your money by getting the imaginarium table and the njust purchasing the Thomas trains that you want.

We have GeoTrax, which we love. They're not the wooden ones, which we debated on because I really like the look of those. But they're simple enough that my son was able to use right away at 2. By 3 he had learned how to assemble and disassemble the tracks himself, and now at 4 he loves to engineer cities train systems. I love that he can take them out and put them back by himself! If we would have gone wooden, we would probably choose Brio. Having been born in Germany, I'm partial to that brand. :) Plus, I'm starting to look for things that AREN'T made in China. As for the train table, we don't have one of those because we let the GeoTrax expand wherever he wants to in the playroom, but Craigslist might be a good source if you don't want to buy new. Good luck!