Little Tree Natural Wood Classic Train Set

I bought this train set for my son last Christmas, just before he turned two.While he was very interested in all the pieces, he needed a bit of help assembling the tracks.Because it soon became a favorite toy, we decided to purchase a second set to expand on what he already had.Within the last year, he's learned to assemble the entire set on his own and plays with this set at least once a day!It was definitely a smart purchase!

I was very glad to see that they had made some major improvements from one year to the next: the 'people' are now cut-outs with images of people on them instead of just yellow or blue silhouettes of people; they've also improved upon the bridge.In the older set, they used separate supports that you balanced the bridge upon.It was a terrible design because every time my son would run the train up the bridge, the supports (which weren't connected to anything) would collapse and the bridge would fall.Now they have made the bridge one large piece with ledges that the ramps balance on.Much better!

I really liked that this set comes with it's own people, trains, trees, even a few little 'buildings'.The best part is that the tracks are compatible with other Thomas the Train trains and the Thomas the Train tracks, so we are able to purchase additional trains and pieces for Birthday and Christmas presents.While the Thomas train sets are a little more artistic (with imprints of wooden rails on them), they still work well and fit fine.The curved pieces in this set are double sided, so the track is very versatile.The wood is sanded nice and smooth, so no fear of splinters!All in all, this is a great first train set, with easy to create tracks and durable wooden pieces.It is sure to become a favorite!