Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway - Battery Powered Thomas

This metal battery operated Thomas engine and his metal battery operated companions (Percy, Lady, etc.) are for use with the wooden track.There are larger plastic battery operated engines that fit both the wooden track and the blue plastic track by Tomy.

This is a great product.Very well-constructed.Very durable.It can be switched on, go forward or backward, and it can be pushed manually--another reviewer complained that it could not be pushed, but it can be pushed.

Purchasing recommendation:

* Wait until appropriate age: Our son started with Thomas when he was 18 months old, but we did not buy any battery engines until he was 3.We wanted for him to use his imagination in pushing and pulling for a while.Now he sometimes sits back and just watches the battery engines, while at other times he pushes them.

* The metal engines are more durable: The metal engines cost more than the larger plastic battery-operated engines, but they are far more durable.They feel solid in the hand.They go both forward and backwards, while the plastic engines only go forward.They pull the wooden cars that your child may already have.They're just a better fit!

My son was initially thrilled to get this addition to his figure eight set, but once the novelty wore off, it seemed like more aggrevation that it was worth.For starters, once he saw battery operated Thomas do his thing, my son no longer wished to push the trains around the track himself.The durability is not great we are about to return our second to Learning Curve.The second was even worse than the first after only a few turns around the track it would not go up ascending track even by itself.This would frustrate my son considerably.The noise it creates is also considerable for such a small toy.Again, the second was worst than the first. We adore all our other pieces but my recommendation would be to skip this one and let your children push their own toys! --Update We are about to send back Thomas for the third time. My son has grown tired of his always broken battery operated Thomas and has gone back to pushing his own trains.

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Apparently one cannot have enough Thomases : -)

We have metal Thomas, plastic small Thomas, plastic large Thomas, and even wooden Thomas and now battery powered Thomas and each was a welcome member of the family.

We like them because each has a realm of play and each goes in and out of favor while all remain loved.Each one of them (with perhaps the exception of the wooden Thomas who has lost a good portion of his paint-LOL) has been a rugged little engine.

Battery-powered Thomas is no exception.He has braved sand and soil and continued to run for hours on end without a break and never once has he been less than a most useful engine.

Being pushed manually does not seem to bother him; nor does being stuck in a corner churning away for hours at a time.

A great purchase for the 3 and above set.

Note:it is helpful to have a small screwdriver handy.A fingernail file doesn't work all that well.

Pam T~

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PROS:

Very powerful, can pull a long chain of trains on a wooden track (or take it off-track to watch it pull a train across the house on smooth floors)

Moves relatively slow, but not too slow (slow enough that it's not racing around the track and derailing, but not so slow that it's sluggish)

Runs on a single AA battery

Grippy rubber-lined wheels

4-wheel pulling (the two front and two rear)

Center wheels lift up and out of the way around tight turns

Strong die-cast metal housing lasts long with rough play (kind of like a matchbox car)

Heavy weight helps give it good traction to pull trains

Gears disengage when not turned on (so kids can push it along the track without breaking the gears)

CONS:

Stupid battery-draining incandescent light that's too weak to see, but drains the battery quickly (I cut mine off; see below)

No auto-shut-off (on the model I have), so the battery dies quickly after a child lets it run into an object and never turns it off

No visible indication for when it's turned on other than a slightly depressed power button (the black patch on top of the train)

Motor brushes wear out sooner than I'd expect (see below)

I bought this train here on Amazon on March 1, 2010 (~19 months ago) for my 2.5-year-old kids.They loved it and have played with it often.It has survived many droppings, slobber, being left running against a wall, tossed in toy boxes, etc.The train is unbelievably strong -I've had it pull about 10 other cars around a track and up ramps with no hesitation.It's heavy and has grippy rubber-lined wheels, so it doesn't slip.My kids play with this train both on and off the track; sometimes they just put a long train to run across the whole house on the floor.My kids have played with this often and it has caused me to stock up on AA batteries.

The things I don't like is that it has a stupid lamp in the front that isn't even noticeable, but drawn a lot of battery power (kind of like running a small flashlight in addition to the motor).Battery life increased substantially after I made a small incision above the front-right wheel to cut the red power wire for the light (used a Dremmel with a cut-off wheel to carefully cut through the housing and snip the wire).

Another thing is that it doesn't have an automatic off feature (or at least the version I have doesn't).So, often a brand new battery would go dead in a day because one of the kids left the train running after it smashed into a wall or other obstacle.The product description now indicates that it has an auto-off -I hope that's the case.

The train's motor and gearbox is sealed using two triangular head screws, making it very difficult to open (if you want to try to make repairs).I got past this by using the Dremmel cut-off wheel to notch a flat head into the screws.I did this recently because after 19 months of abuse, the engine seems to be running sluggishly and batteries don't last.I figured the motor needed a little tune-up, so I disassembled it.I found that the brushes on the motor had worn out pretty badly and could not be feasibly replaced.I helped it a little, but it still runs like it's "tired".

So, I've just added a replacement train to my shopping cart!Yup -this train was so worth the money that I'm getting a replacement for the old worn-out one my kids love.

UPDATE ON 10/10/2011:

The train DOES NOT have an automatic shut-off feature, as the Product Description claims it does (see the description from the manufacturer).

The new train I ordered is running GREAT (after I cut-off the battery-draining lamp); the train it replaces really was worn down from too much play.=-)

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It's Christmas Day, and believe me, the only thing that would get me to sit down at a computer is the level of dissatisfaction I've had with the Thomas battery powered engines.These trains derail constantly.I think it is because all four wheels have power, and the front wheels have too much traction, so they are able to climb out of the grooves.Took me all night to set up a really cool track, and they derail every 40 seconds or so.Read: 3 year old yelling at train.Thank goodness I also bought a Brio battery powered engine as well (the Polar Express one).It works much better.It has not derailed once all morning.It also is better in the following ways: 1) It shuts off after 2 minutes so you don't lose battery power, 2) it can go into freewheel mode when you want to use it without power, 3) it goes in reverse, 4) it makes train sounds, 5) the coupling to other cars has a swivel which means it is less likely to derail and more likely to maintain the magnetic connection, 6) it comes with batteries installed.If "Santa Claus" had not disposed of all the packaging last night, I would return all the battery operated Thomas Trains and go with Brio ones.Note: there is a good thomas battery powered car which is the jet engine.This jet engine has the swivel, and seems not to derail, maybe because it pushes the other cars in front of it.