Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway - Deluxe Roundhouse

Within a very short time (days) of getting this item, I kept noticing that my kids kept knocking one of the doors off (usually the far right one because it's opening is the most awkward out of them all).Then I I would see two off, and then three, and well, you get the picture.I got so sick of popping them back into place, that I just took all of them off completely.In a way, it's almost better that they pop off with force, because if they didn't, they may just break off, and then you can't put them back at all.

It's the centerpiece of the train setup, and it takes up A LOT of the table.We don't have the pricey Thomas table, just a generic one that is only about an inch-and-a-half shorter, but the roundhouse takes up a ton of space.It's also very hard to make a full connecting layout to all the roundhouse's connectors.You need a lot of track, especially the small curved ones.You definitely can't buy a lot of other large buidlings/pieces to go along with it.It makes the visuals look pleasing of your train arrangement, but I found that the kids don't seem to play with it much.They usually run the trains around without going through it or using it.They are both under 4, so maybe when they are older they will get more use out of it, and we can put the doors back!The sounds are nice, the push button mechanisms to release the trains work perfect, and the tools in the back are a nice touch, so despite my greivances, it does have some good points.You just have to decide if you want to shell out the dough.I would think it over about whether you want to just buy 4 or 5 nice play buildings to take up your table, which the kids may play with more, or this one very large piece they may get bored with.

We received one of these for my son's Christmas present in 2005.Immediately one of the doors came off.So I returned it and got a new one.A couple of days later the red door came off again.I should have returned it but never did.I find the unit frustrating.I would probably buy the simpler model without doors that open and close to save the frustation and money.

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I wish I had read these other reviews more closely before I splurged on this overpriced roundhouse! I regretted it as soon as we started playing with it. The doors haven't fallen off yet, though one of them doesn't close very well, and we don't have a train table (though we were planning to get one), but here are the things I don't like about this roundhouse and wish I had known before I bought it:

1. The trains go up on these strange risers behind the doors. It is hard to get them to stay up on the risers and there is no point except that it helps the cars "run" out of the roundhouse when you pop the doors open. It is less engaging for kids because they cannot see all the way through the roundhouse and can't reach in to manipulate the trains. My son (4) just said to me, "mommy, can we get the roundhouse that I can put my hands into in back?"

2. The turntable is very limiting. You can't have all of the trains sitting outside of the round house "in the yard" as they would in the books or videos, and you are limited to using the turntable outside of the roundhouse since you need it to get the trains out. Also, you need special peices to make multiple tracks link back up with the turntable since you have to use all of the "male" peices for the roundhouse doors and are left only with "female" connectors (or is it the other way around?).

The sounds and tools in the back don't add enough extra fun to make up for these deficiencies. I bought this expensive piece as a treat for my son from Santa and he already wishes he had the "green roundhouse." What a disappointment. I'd return it right now if I could and would get the simple roundhouse with the turntable separately--and save myself $50-$75!

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This piece is pricy and large; so I would recommend that you have the room for it for starters. My son (5) saw this in the floor model in a toy store and loved the fact that it made noise; the doors opened and closed; it comes with the turntable to go every which way and the fact that it was huge:) He enjoys making his trains ride by the house; or go in for repairs as well as "sleeping" when they need a rest. He has many many other pieces and track, so we have no problem connecting it into our current sets. We use to have a train table but found he would rather make it on the floor, his way, then bunched up in a rectanglular table. No whe makes them on his floor, every direction he wants; and is excellent about cleaning it up after a day or two goes by. He loves making new setups which keeps it more fun I think then just having it setup and left that one way forever. It gets his mind going and he has come up with some pretty smart setups. Overall I give this piece 5 stars, company is great, pices is fun; little pricy but it is quite large. Most pieces aren't cheap but they are durable and last. We first started him on Thomas stuff when he was 2. He still has every piece and part looking as the day we bought them and they have been throuh yell and back, and you would never know it :)

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Not only did the doors get knocked off in the first two hours of play, one of the door mechanisms broke as a result, so that the door couldn't be replaced.While my 3-year-old seems to glean as much enjoyment out of it without the doors (I simply leave them off, now), I'm disappointed with the poor durability of a ~$100 toy.

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