anyone know about thomas the tank!!??

happymummy24-7

a quick overview...i have three daughters,10,8 and nearly 4 so have never had any experience with trains let alone thomas!! Now my youngest has absolutly become obsessed with thomas the tank and id love to get her loads of the playsets for her birthday and xmas-5 days apart!-but i have a problem!!!
can anyone tell me what tracks are the best as i have become tangled up in how many different kinds there are-wooden plastic ect!
i really like all the 'take along' stuff which is plastic and magnetic trains but i also love the 'trackmaster' one and the wooden one!!!!!!! which do you have and recommend? she likes pushing them along but i think she'd love the ones that load the coal ect,can you mix and match!?
my biggest problem is-can different tracks eg take along plastic be connected with wooden? i have googled but cant get an answer and need some human help!!
thank you!!:beer: laura.

mrcow

All I know is that the wooden tracks eg. Thomas, ELC, Brio & Ikea can all be tagged on together if that helps?

madnessandmayhem

I would go with a wooden track as well-most wooden tracks do all link together. My son (now 6) got one about 4 years ago and he's had bits from different places. it's also easy if she goes off thomas then you still have a track that can have 'normal' trains on it. It's handy when people ask what to get her for xmas or bday you can suggest a train for the track or such like. I would get a cheaper track from somewhere like argos then get th thomas trains because the thomas woodn sets are sooooooo expensive!!

madnessandmayhem

and sorry to answer your other question i don't think you can mix and match the plastic and wood??!! not 100% sure though. also my son had a plastic set and he stood on and snapped a bit that we could not get a replacement anywhere, and the sets, i found are designed in a wayy that there is only one way really you can build them so it works propely, an d with out the bit he broke, it never connected to a full loop again-if that makes sense?!!

slummymummyof3

We started with the Brio wooden stuff and progressed on to the Tomica World plastic train track and battery operated engines. You are able to build far more complicated tracks etc with the plastic tracks.

Moominmamma

My little boy seems to have a bit of everything, but mostly wooden track. A lot of the battery operated trains work on the wooden track, and obviously the "Take Along" engines can be pushed round the wooden track too.

I personally prefer the wooden track, you can get loads of different bridges, buildings etc for it and it's easier for little hands to put together than the plastic one.

Some bargains here

purplegirluk1

I have gone for the wooden ELC set as I used to work in ELC and we had a set out on a play table and although it was played with all day everyday it was in great condition. Simply for that reason I would say is wooden will last, I hope the set I have will last another child or more. No you cannot mix plastic track with wooden track. Also the play table from ELC is extremly expensive, something like £220!! There is a company on ebay that makes their own version which looks just as nice for £50, seacch Thomas Play Table i think. Hope that is of help.

Minimum_Wage_2

it sounds like happymummy wants to play with it herself !
i would say that your best bet is to get yourself along to the early learning shops and hopefully see them for yourself and find out which one would be better for you.... i mean your youngest.

SammyD_2

The wooden ones all interconnect. We bought a cheap ELC track and added Thomas trains. If we had known how much it would be used we would have got the "proper" Thomas track which cost loads more, but fits together a bit better. However the ELC one was fine.

Then we added some Brio - especially the train which is battery operated and stops and starts when it reaches a certain track. Brio also has other great accessories.

I bought mine when my son was one - he is now six and it still gets played with. I don't think you can mix wooden with plastic, but maybe I am just making assumptions!

lottylouj

hi, my DS was obsessed with Thomas. We have done it all, wooden, Track master, Take along.

The tracks cant be mixed together as they are all different sizes, heights etc.
I loved the Take along sets as they seemed more hard wearing, until he dropped a tub of the trains on my foot and broke my toe lol. I also found the Take Along cheaper.

The wooden sets are also good and its a lot easier to pick up cheaper accessories and track, but the trains can be a bit pricy.

Personally the plastic track and trains were noisy and broke easily, if the plastic connector on the train broke or the wires on the train broke then that was the end of it, it became more hassle than it was worth for us.

maybe check out ebay, or your local classifides.

happymummy24-7

minimum wage........you hit the nail on the head,lol,didnt realise it was quite so addictive to collect sets of things and looks like im starting with thomas,lol.
while out looking in toy shops yesterday there was some great bargains but for all different track sets!! my hubby like the wooden track as you all say its far more robust...and traditional!! is the trackmaster set wooden or is it just that colour-seen it in magazine last night and couldnt tell-it would help if it told you on the boxes what matches what!! my other daughter showed a great interest in it in the shop too so thats why i want to buy a bigish lot as they will play with it together!!