? for mom's of train lovers
futrkingsley
member
So how the heck do you deal with all the different types of trains and train sets???
My mom started this whole business with a THomas trackmaster set for ages 3 and up when DS was 18 months. It's been nothing but trouble.
He then got Take N Play sets for Xmas plus a really terrible Trackmaster set. At the time he wasn't that into trains, but his cousins who picked his gifts were. I didn't care so made no move to exchange them.
In March or April DS picked a Geotrax set at Target with a giftcard and we all loved it. But none of his Thomas works with it and vice versa.
He also has a Dinosaur Train but no track and we'll be skipping that as the reviews are terrible.
He recently discovered a love for Chuggington and we ALL love them. The shows are awesome, the song is infectious and the trains are cute. We got him two die cast ones for his bday at his request. They work with the Take N Play he has but nothing else.
He is a very frustrated engineer generally. He wants his toys to do something specific and when they won't due to their design he gets so pissy we have to regularly take them away to save our sanity. Which is why all the trackmaster track is in hiding. 
So what do you do to make it all work? Does your kid get as pissed by incompatiblity as mine does? Does he try to make the trains do things they aren't meant to do (ie hook two engines together, which only take n play will do)?
Re: ? for mom's of train lovers
I'm so jealous! In doing research this morning, it looks like most of the wooden railway sets cooperate well together, which would be so awesome! The Thomas and Chugg wooden sets work together.
But in order to switch we'd have to ditch/sell like $200 worth of trains. We didn't buy about 90% of it but it'd still be a bummer. Our consignment shop sells Thomas and wooden stuff. How much is a reasonable price for a used starter wooden set do you think?
The wooden sets are great because they do work together. We have a mix of Thomas and Brio that were all previously used. . We got a HUGE set that and approx 15 trains (mostly Thomas brand) off of ebay for $100. I was slightly annoyed at the hubs when he bought it but now I can't imagine not having it and if it was new it probably cost over $400 for the tracks, trains and accessories we got. I totally rec getting it used. Not sure where you live but i always see good prices on the wooden set on craiger for the peninsula.
We've managed to keep it to two main types: wooden and die cast (Take N Play). We don't have any of the plastic sets and the boys aren't really interested in the Chuggington trains.
Our wooden trains and track stay in the bins of our train table. The die cast trains stay in a bin in the train table as well as in a bin in Ty's room. Neither of the boys has any problem differentiating die cast from wooden trains and I haven't had any problems with frustration in getting one to work. Like pp, we have an awesome local consignment shop that happily takes trains and they sell quickly. I have taken a few sets that have been gifted to us and traded for wooden replacements.
You are genius. I think the biggest frustration is the way the plastic trains connect -- not two sets are the same, and the connections frustrate him to no end. The wooden ones and take n plays are all magnets which makes them easier to use.
This is an area where letting other people make my purchasing decisions turned out not so well, and honestly taking them to consignment and "trading" them for new trains didn't even occur to me. If I did straight Trackmaster Thomas for Wood Thomas he might go for it since we never use those. And then we could keep die cast trains and wood trains and be happy!
wooden track is the way to go!
you can often see them on criagslist or at consignment sales. the chuggington trains only connect with each other so just be aware of that (or at least the few chuggs we have have a weird plastic coupling).
we prefer the classic brio, but also use a thomas. a majority of our trains are wooden, but we have a few brios that are battery powered
good luck
We only have Thomas kinds, they were hand me downs from my nephew, and luckily they all are compatible, even if the wheels are a bit different.
I did get some odd ones mixed in the giant box we got, and I just tossed the ones that would not work with the track that is used.
I've seen the other kinds, just not bought into them yet. We like the Chugginton show too, very cute.
Chuggington has three different track systems just like Thomas. The die cast were first and work with the Thomas Take N Play tracks but not trains. The wooden set came out in the spring I think and is totally compatible with the Thomas wooden sets apparently, but having neither we haven't tried it.
I was loathe to add yet another system to our mess of trains but a DVD came with the Geotrax set and the shows are so sweet! DS loves watching train shows, but geotrax is sort of sterotypical but has the bonus of "real people" in it, which DS loves. Thomas shows are too grouchy and not nice for both him and us. So Chuggington is filling the gap. The trains are nice to each other, and their personalities are those of kids. But with the show comes the toys.