Seeking Opinions on Train Sets/train Tables

I would definitely go with the Brio. It is expensive, but in my opinion you get what you pay for. Thomas is cute, but I personally get tired of looking at trains or cars that have facial features.

H.,
Since your main concern seems to be with lasting quality, remember that any toy that gets a lot of play will see time take it's toll. Toys tend to be one of the few items that hold up to the "you get what you pay for" philosophy, although not entirely. As for the Thomas concern, try doing a search for "toys made in the USA" on the web. You will get a slew of sites dedicated to toys made in the USA only.

Oh, and I did a search on the geotrax sets everyone is talking about. These are made in China and were part of the recent lead paint recall <http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07302.html&gt;

Wishing you luck!

Rolinda
Wife, Mother, Friend

We have the Imagininarium (sp?) table set. It's compatable with Thomas train toys. As for the Thomas recalls, that's old news and the "recalled" toys are off the shelves now.

We've had ours for 2 yrs now (xmas gift at 2 1/2) and my son LOVES it. We have taked down the track and built citys out of other toys for his matchbox cars too.

We come up with all kinds of stuff for his imagination.

---N.

I don't think I can help with the table, DH built one for our boys. My boys ages are 2 and 3 and they love their trains! We have mostly Thomas brand trains, and most of the track and building are Imaginarium. The Imaginarium buildings are about half the price of the others and I think the quality is equal to the more expensive brands. We just bought a few buldings online, at TRU, and at AC Moore. AC Moore and Michaels have the Thomas stuff and they always have 40% off coupons in the paper. For the table DH just painted a piece of MDF green and laid out the track and screwed it on. He also painted a road on it for cars to drive on, which the boys love. Have you looked at etoys.com? They have a lot of set on there also. Good Luck!

H.

I just bought the Imaginarium set for my son from toys r us. If you read the reviews the track comes apart because the little ones take it apart, which is normal. I paid $136 including shipping and it comes with the trains, track, table, and all the accessories. I plan on using liquid nail to keep the tracks together since I have 2 boys who will pull it apart. Also this table has lights and sounds to make it more fun. Hope this helps.

my son xander is 4 he is a train fanatic!! try the geo tracks they are very durable!! we started buying them when he was a year old and they have lasted thru it all...
we havent had any problems with the recalls weve been lucky!! give it a try we love them and are planning to buy more this christmas..

The best set I have seen is at Costco. It comes with the table, drawers and all of the pieces (track and trains) for one low price. I can't remember the price exactly, but I think it is close to $180. We got one last year for our son and he loves it. I was just at Costco recently and looked at this year's version and it is even nicer than the one we have.

J.
A Mother's Boutique
www.mothersboutique.com

Geo track. I have it for my one son and he loves it he is 8 and still wants the geo track. As for tables..My dad bought one for my kids years ago that had a set with it. All wooden and two nice size drawers that pulled out on wheels. But sorry to say that i don't know where he got it. Geo track might seem a little high in price. But it hold up to the kids.

Best of luck of your santa shopping.

BJ's has a pretty great set for I think about $100-150 from Battat. It has train tracks, trains, storage bins. The tracks are compatible with Brio and Thomas. We got it for my son two winters ago and he has played with it almost everyday since. Good luck.

The Brio, Imanginarium, and Thomas sets seem to be compatible. If you like the Imaginarium table, you can get a way with using the Brio stuff. I think Toys R Us still has displays set up where you can try them out. If you do want Thomas, the track should be fine. It is solid wood with a varnish.

We also had the GeoTrax stuff. Our son loved it as much as his Thomas set.

Costco has a train table that I've heard good things about.
I do not own it, yet, but my parents bought all of the children in our family their own table for Christmas this year. My brother-in-law works at Costco and has "played" with it and recommended it to us all.
Good luck!

HI!! I found all the train tables break or you spend sooo much money!! My husband made one 4 legs and a large square with a circle in the middle and I painted it. We have had it for 5years !! And you do'nt have to worry about lead paint, and you can make it as big or small to fit a room...very easy and fun. Good luck!

I got a train set for my 7 year old and it has now passed down to my 4 year old. The biggest advice I can give is two fold: 1) Make sure that the size is right for the space you plan on keeping it. Once it is put together, you don't want to move it. They need space to walk all around the set, so up against a wall is out. They take up a lot of space, so this was a big deal for us. 2) Make sure it has lots of drawer space underneath. Our train table got used for multiple toys such as legos, blocks, etc., so we needed many times to store all the train pieces underneath. We started with a basic set from Costco that fit the above needs and it has lasted two boys.

H.
The Fisher-Price Geo Track system is GREAT. My now 4 year old son loves his. There are many different pieces you can get and add on to it and it is very durable and easy to work with for young boys. I would really recommend it. Also it is pretty affordable.
K. Lawson

3 Years ago we purchased my son the full Thomas set with Thomas the Tank toy box and we got back the train table from my sister-in-law that my husband had made for our Godchild 7 years earlier for his Thomas Set. Despite the recalls which ended up only being 5 or 6 small items out of many, many pieces that came with the full set, didn’t bother my son one bit that they were missing after i took them off of him. If I had to do it again I would again go with the Thomas the Tank set. My son was never they type to put anything in his mouth either. The train set lasted over 7 years for my Godchild who played with it very hard. My sister-in-law even saved all most every piece of the set for when my Godchild is grown up. My son’s set is holding up great and the set they have at Barn’s and Noble's in the kids section of the store, that gets a lot more play time that either one of my kids ever did, is also holding up nicely.
Since almost every toy company out there has had recalls you need to look into what your son likes the best, search the recall lists and get the type of train set they he likes the best. If you don’t you might be wasting your money if he never plays with it. Either don’t by the parts that are recalled (which I don’t think are even being sold now) or take them out of the set and exchange them like I did. It was very easy by mail. Home Depot even sells lead testing kits if you still don’t feel safe. Just remember, some of the recalls were for amounts of lead the size of a dot on some toys so if you do the home check test several different areas.
Good Luck. What an awful thing to have to happen so close to the holiday season but I think that things will be much safer for our kids from now on and Christmas will have little recalls if any, I hope. Have a great Christmas!
T.

I have to agree with the two mothers who mentioned the Fisher Price Geotrax. My two boys (5 and 2)love this set and we add to it constantly. It is easy for even little hands to put together and they can play with it without worring about destroying it as it is pretty sturdy. My friend who also has two boys the same age has had the wooden trains and just saw ours the other day and decided that she will be putting the Geotrax on her boys christmas list. My husband and I love to build layouts and then the boys will sit there and run the train (we've had upto 4 on the track at once) for hours. The newer trains are very like real model trains (lionel) in that they can even go forwards and backwards with the controler. There are also trains that don't require remotes if you want you son to just push them alnog the track. Honestly, I just can't say enough good things about Geotrax. Hope this helps. I'm sure he'll enjoy whatever you get him.

Constructiveplaythings.com sells train sets and tables. I don't know that much about what they carry, but if you read their mission statement you'll find that they have a high standard of quality. I plan on buying one of their sets also for my 18 mo son.

I liked the train and table at Sam's club. The table is very sturdy, the train set is complete with all the accessories. The best part is that the table has bins located under the table for storage. Very affordable! Check it out!

Hello, there! Just wanted to chime in about trains. We have for our kids (boy 6, girl 4, girl 4mos) The fisher price Geotrax sets. We bought 2 complete sets, and our kids, and my husband absolutely LOVE them. I can't recommend a train table, though, as we don't have one. We pull out the train, and everyone palys with it(i.e., rearrainging the tracks n buildings n stuff). It's a big to-do around here, though, very fun.

Good luck on your search!!

Hi H. we went with the Fisher Price GeoTrax last year!! I LOVE playing with it. You can build something new everytime so it doesn't get old. We have 4 boys 2, 5, 9 & 11 and they all play together...the older ones like to construct the "towns"! Hope this is helpful! Blessings ~ J.

I'm on the same search for my son this Christmas! I just discovered www.littlekidstuff.com last night. They sell a train table where the trains fit down into the table. Then it has a lid that is wood on one side and chalk board on the other. I think this might be a great toy to grow with. I'm a little concerned about playing inside the table, but the idea is wonderful! Good luck!

hello H.,

I just wanted to tell you that Geo tracks are the best my sons love them and they stay together really nicely.

Good luck Christmas shopping and have fun

Okay, last year I was the one shopping around for a train table. My son (who turned three this past July) loves trains. He inherited my 8 year old daughters set (she loved them as well) and has some of his own. He wanted a train table. I ended up buying his at Target because it was such a great sale. Had I not bought it there, I would have gone with the Sam's Club one. We haven't had any problems with our table yet. I wouldn't recommend letting the child sit or stand on it, though. The other ones (when I looked at them set up at different stores) didn't seem any sturdier. The only one that really seemed sturdier was the Thomas the Tank Engine one and it was about 3-4 times the cost.

As to the train sets. Although the Geotrax are newer ones on the block, they are absolutely great. They don't come apart unless my son takes them apart. All of the wooden tracks fall apart somewhat when played with unless glued together _and_ down onto the table. My son loves to play with the trains at the bookstore because the set is all glued down and it doesn't fall apart on him. At home he doesn't have to try to take them apart, the ramps, elevated tracks and bridges fall apart (how often depends on the type of support). It didn't matter whether it was the cheap store brands or the expensive Thomas the Tank or Brio. His sister didn't mind as much the track falling apart. He prefers the Geotrax. With his sister, we ended up buying a smaller Thomas set but then bought some of the cheaper store brand sets from Walmart and/or Target. Then we bought some of the other engines from the Thomas the Tank engine series. As for the paint problems and that turning you off Thomas, please don't let it. I know this is a big concern but it seems to be a much farther reaching problem than Thomas and I have to say that they have been very good at getting the word out. I don't believe any children were badly injured or harmed from the paint. I believe it was caught before that happened but I would have to double check to be sure about that. Keep in mind, though, that not only are both the makers of Thomas the Tank and Fisher Price are usually very good about notifying you if there is a problem they also do their best to make it up to you by fixing the problem and usually doing something extra. Just make sure that you send in any registration forms with any toys, electronics or other items that you buy for your child. This way the company can notify you immediately if there is a danger related to the item you bought.

I wish I knew your sons age bc I think it makes a difference. We bought my son an imaginarium table last year and it fell apart at the hinges so many times that eventually we couldn't fix it anymore bc the wood was that cheap cardboard wood. This year hes getting a new table but my brother is making it.
Another thing I wanted to mention about the set is that my son was only 2 and he just liked to move the trains around the track and if the track broke he would get really upset. I always had to put it back together and eventually I glued it down. I know that putting the sets together is part of the learning process so we also got him the plastic take alongs so that he could make his own track on the floor but he really din't start doing that until he was a little older.
As far as avoiding the Thomas products goes, some Biros were recalled as well. I get daily emails from the CPSC on recalls and they are so random with the lead paint from cheap toys at Dollar General to expensive Thomas trains. Its almost unavoidable. Im beginning to wonder if its a conspiracy. I would recommend signing up for emails on recalls with the CPSC, its free,

Personally, if you could afford it, I'd go with the Brio. When my kids were little, we wanted to get them a train set, and one set of grandparents volunteered to do that. They bought Brio, and I was disappointed. I wanted them to have the electrified model trains, which my husband and I ended up buying on our own. The tracks came apart, everything broke all the time, and truly, the kids like the Brio better. I thought the Brio might be too "babyfied" and not hold the boys' interest for many years, but they actually still pulled those out and played with them until they were 10 or so. They still set up the Brios under the tree at Christmas, and now my boys are 20 and 17! Nothing really changes with the Brios, and we've added to the set over time. In fact, I picked up some additions for this year's Christmas display. So, for nearly 20 years, we've been able to add to the set. I know that these will probably be used by my grandchildren. So, my in-laws really DID make the better choice all those years ago!

We never had a dedicated table for the trains over the years. The trains are sturdy, and the boys would set them up on the floor, or on whatever play table we had. And when they put them away, lots of things were just dumped into Rubbermaid containers. I have to say that they weren't really handled well, but the Brio stuff held up very well!

I think you should reconsider Thomas. Yes, they have had alot of recalls. However after I sent one back that was recalled, they refunded my shipping, sent me a new train to replace, sent me another train free as a gift. Also, when the second recall came out they noitifed me personally because I participated in the first one. Also, it is my firm belief that there are probably other toys and trains out there that should have been recalled and havent. I think the Thomas company is really on top of things and did a really good job of fixing their mistake. Because of this they will get my business this year. Good luck in whatever you choose.