We bought this, as well as some additional road & "plan city" items to add to our kid's Brio train setup.The whole line seems high quality & it was a big hit w/ the boys.They like their trains, but they love their cars & trucks too!Plan city makes some nice little wooden vehicles, but this roadway set works just as well with Thomas, Brio, and even hotwheels, matchbox, etc cars.
The fact that it integrates so well with Brio, Thomas etc is great (even comes with a "crossing" road / track part!... although trying to work this into a train table that's already "full" can be pretty challenging!We're at the point where we have to "rotate" certain accessories in & out (which is good... keeps the toy fresh... and is fun for Dad to try to come up with new layouts... that actually fit on the table!).
Only downside... if you expand this set w/ additional road packs, you might need a male/male &/or female/female section... which they don't seem to sell.I'm actually making one of each by cutting two pieces in half & glueing the two male ends together & the two female ends together.
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We bought this to go with the Plan City Station. We definately needed it. Unlike other roading systems (eg Thomas) this is a two way road which is nice. It has some pieces that have railroad crossings so you can combine any Thomas-compatible wooden railway pieces with the roads (We have Circo and Imaginarium).The only problem (and the reason I gave it 4 stars not 5) is that there are no smaller straight pieces of road, which makes it difficult to make different shapes with the road. When it is connected to the City Station there is a fixed length that is the station that you need to match the rest of the roading system to so you can close the loop, and because the pieces of roading are all the same length it is difficult to do when you have a confined space. It may be possible to buy additional short pieces which would give you more play options.
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We have some of the older plan city (Brio?) roadway and I bought a set of this at a going out of business sale, not realizing it wasn't compatible with the old stuff.The old stuff was bigger (longer) and each piece had two connecting points at each end.Compared to this newer stuff, the difference is night and day.Hands down the old stuff is nicer however the old stuff doesn't connect to the base of the new parking garage (although I am working on making pieces to allow old and new to connect).
I am wondering, though, if they made this smaller in part to save money but also so it can fit on a train table?Back when the old stuff was made, train tables in the house didn't seem as much of a fixture.Now that almost everyone has a train table, the more compact roadway makes somewhat more sense.The old stuff was definitely nicer for the floor, if you wanted to be able to have buildings around it as well.
What's confusing me is my set is all wood.I expected the rubber connectors people have been expressing issues with mine is all wood.From that standpoint, it seems sturdy enough but I'd love to know if I got old stock somehow, or if Plan has switched to the all wood design?(I just got a set of this in January 2011)
At any rate this set is nice enough, though with 1 connector vs. 2 it is more wiggly than the old style.Seems like it will last a good while.I like how the bridge can be folded flat for storage it doesn't look as nice as the old style, but that's a pretty ingenious feature.However I expect we'll glue the supports to the bridge to make the set-up more stable this is what we did with our old set so it held up better.It would be nice if they would make it so the bridge attached to the supports better for play.
It would also be nice if all the Plan City buildings attached to the roadway somehow the old style parking garage did not attach, and with the old garage it made sense to not have other things attached to the roadway.But now that the parking garage can be attached, it's kind of weird to not be able to attach the other buildings (car wash, service center) and almost makes it make more sense just to have one of those carpets with the roadway printed on it.It's a little annoying how there will be a dip between the buildings and the roadway when you just place the buildings along side the roadway.Basically the roadway makes the parking garage more interesting, but makes the other buildings stand out kinda weirdly.
Kind of meager for the price, but a great addition to the parking garage if you can find it cheap(er).
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This set was purchased as an addition for the PlanToys Road & Rail Play Set City Transportation (since it came with very little road pieces). This addition has brought the level of imaginative play to a whole new level!
This Road System (Deluxe) comes with a total of 28 track pieces, 2 cars, 2 street lights, 4 trees and it also includes a bridge. All the pieces are wood there are no plastic connectors. The bridge also folds flat making it very easy to store.
The best part about this set is that the road track pieces are all two way roads which increase the educational value when it comes to teaching road safety, making a right turn, left turn, and driving on the correct side of the road.
The only negative about this set is that it is almost impossible to make different layouts other than the one shown on the box. It would be vastly improved if there were additional road pieces (of different shapes and sizes) to purchase separately to help rectify the problem.
Overall this is a wonderful set that compliments the Plan Toys City Series very well. It is not only Eco friendly but durable enough to become an heirloom family toy.
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