Melissa & Doug Classic Wooden Figure Eight Train Set

We bought this set to add on to a generic wooden train set that we already owned.For the price, this set was just what we needed and was a perfect add-on.I really like the bridge; others that I've seen are not sturdy at all.My children were frustrated playing with a set in a store once because the bridge kept falling overthe bridge was just track that sloped up and lay on top of a block.Even I could not get it to stay up when pushing a train over it.The bridge in this set is great, no toppling over= happy kids.I'm surprised that more of the bridges out there for trains aren't made like this?The pieces fit together the same way any other wooden tracks do, I didn't think they were poor quality or gapping like another reviewer mentioned.My 1.5 and 3.5 year olds can both push the trains around on the track and enjoy this toy!I like that this is a toy they will be able to use for a long time, creating more elaborate tracks as they grow.

Bought this wooden set thinking I would be able to add Thomas Series of train engines, since the previous review said it was compatible. The set arrived with itsown little red wooden train engine and coach, linked via magnets. The set is easy to assemble, but there are lots of loose gaps between the track pieces where they align with each other, causing the pieces to drift out of alignment. This causes the train to derail (come off the track) frequently. My little daughter was left wondering why the train never gets any further than one single piece of track segment.

Besides trying to realign them every time the train runs on the flat track, the train set also derails as you are climbing up the bridge (in fact, the front wheels of the engine go up in the air as you are pushing the engine up the incline when you are just beyond halfway through the upward incline in other words the slope of the bridge wasn't constructed properly). So the child is expected to hold on to the engine and the coach with both hands to prevent it from derailing while going up the bridge.

The next thing I tried was with the standard Thomas Engine sets to see if any of these problems would be solved. I bought a set each of Thomas and Percy engines and coaches and then tried running them on this track set. The same problems of frequent derailing persisted (over the bridge and over the track joints).

So my overall impression is that its a very poorly designed set, which teaches the child more about accidents and derailing of trains, rather than how trains should run smoothly!

So I wouldn't recommend wasting money on this one and just spend a little extra for a good quality train set. You get what you pay for!

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Adorable train set for the price. The tracks and train included in this set work fine with my son's Thomas wooden railway tracks and trains.

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I bought this for my son;s 2nd birthday.He loves it and gets it out all the time.I think there's enough pieces to have a bit of variety (certainly over the models that are just loops), but it also didn't take a big investment in case he wasn't interested.It's also somewhat educational; itgives kids a chance to practice motor skills as they interlock the tracks and it lets them develop imagination and problem-solving skills as they try to come up with new configurations.

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All of the pieces fit together just fine and the train stays on the track just as well as any other wodden train set. It is nice to have other options than "Thomas" train sets. My son actually hates "Thomas", and will run out of the room if he even hears the music from the show(!) He is 2 1/2 years old and loves to put the train tracks together. all of the flat tracks are reversable so you can actually make more layouts than just the figure 8. This is the perfect starter set for us.

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