Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway - Straight And Curved Expansion Pack

This is probably not the best option unless you want to get really serious with a huge layout.Here is my Thomas recommendation:

The Thomas train sets are great modern versions of the classic indestructible wooden train sets.Simple enough to avoid the toddler age frustrations of getting the cars to run on the track yet complex enough to engage a wide range of ages (up to and including Grandpas).All the stories help with the imagination part....the books & videos provide an endless source of adventures that can be acted out, although most kids are perfectly capable of inventing their own episodes.

Here is my advice, if you are trying to work your way through the maze of start-up options:

First of all, you can spend a fortune on a huge set....even if you can afford it, I would start with something small and give the child the joy of receiving a chain of small but intriguing presents over a long period of time.It fosters the joy of giving/receiving and helps teach them to come back again and again to the same toy...watching it grow, asking for specific items from the stories they hear, etc.Several reviewers suggest painting an old coffee table and this is a great idea.

I suggest the Figure 8 set (the most popular one) or if you want to spend a little bit more, the Conductors Figure 8 set.Both are complex enough to be interesting, but simple enough to give lots of room for growth.Almost immediately I would add a new present of one of the inexpensive engines (you can ask the child which story they like best and get that engine for them....or buy the engine to go with the video or book in the same gift)....these would be Percy The Small Engine, Bill The Yellow Engine, Treavor, (or a bit more $ for:) The Lady Engine, James The Red Engine, Gordon The Express Engine (he's one of the best stories, I think), or Henry The Green Engine.

Now for the good stuff!Give it a month or so, and then reward the child with something really cool like the Barrel Loader or Rusty the Construction 3 Car Set.

I honestly can't see the point in the huge multi hundred dollar system sets.If you want to impress the neighbors or something, go for it, but I'm telling you.....most kids will enjoy a large number of small thoughtful gifts, not a "keep-up-with-the-Jones" effort on your part.

Good behavior can be rewarded with a pick-your-own trip to the store (there are sometimes when a real time shopping trip can't be beat)

By the way, the Thomas stories are based on real restored engines that run in England on the Mid-Hants Railway Watercress line near Winchester (you can read about them an even plan a trip to ride on the real Thomas trains by checking outwatercressline.co.uk).They are a day trip from the London rail stations, although I recommend using a B&B in the Winchester area and staying overnight if you decide to go.Winchester was the center of the old Saxon kingdom of Wessex of King Alfred as well as a major early medieval site (the Cathedral has the tombs of many of the Saxon Kings as well as Jayne Austen and Izaac Walton and it was where Richard the Lionhearted was crowned.)

If your familiar with Thomas train track, have a large area to work with and know you want this expansion set, I would upgrade to five stars. What I have found though is that if you want a lot of flexibility in layouts on the Thomas train table, the 3 1/2" curves & switches offer more options for different layouts. The 6 1/2" curves can be hard to fit & work with on a train table. In defense of the bigger curves though, I've found the battery powered trains have an easier time with the larger radius curves especialy when pulling coaches and they sometimes get hung up on the switches. (This really is my kids toy)

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I purchased this set to add on to my son's existing set. We had purchased another set that was different, but the Thomas and Friends expansion pack fit nicely. There are a fair number of different pieces, which gave us more options when building. We are thoroughly pleased with the product.

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This is a good little addition to any track set that you might have, but it would be nice if they added more of the smaller, tighter bends do the set (or made a separate set of them).The larger bends are nice but take up WAY too much space sometimes, where the tighter bends make it easier to fit more track on whatever table you are using.That's about the only complaint I have with this set.The Learning Curve track is still the best quality track, even if it is a little more expensive than some of the "generic" track out there.

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We got this track on a great deal, and we couldn't be happier. Thomas track is by far some of the most durable track that we can find. It is expensive, but Amazon has great deals to be found. This will last for years to come.

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