Help me, oh Mumsnetters whose children are already well through their Thomas phase!
I am massively confused about the bajillion incompatible ranges of official merchandise all named something like "My First Thomas and Friends".
I am looking for train sets and engines that go with bits of train sets that we already have, which cover two different types of Thomas train set already.
One is basically BRIO, which I think is called Fisher Price Thomas and Friends Wooden.
The other is for much younger children and has brightly-coloured track pieces - we currently have a set called "Double Delivery" (www.amazon.co.uk/Thomas-Friends-First-Double-Delivery/dp/B00RAG7OQK)?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 but there are several others including a spiral one and one with James the red engine.
My questions are:
- What is the second type actually called, because just typing "My First Thomas and Friends" plus "Fisher Price" into anything seems to bring up hundreds of toys that are not track sets and loads of engines of multiple different sizes and functions.
- Do the second type of track sets join up with each other or are they all stand alone and can't be made to join up into one larger layout?
- Can you buy extra engines etc for the second type by themselves or do they have to each come with a playset?
- What is Trackmaster?
- What is Take-n-Play?
- What is "Golden Bear"?
- Are there any other major Thomas track set types that I need to not accidentally buy as they won't be compatible, beyond the four or five (!!) types mentioned here?
I have read the Wikipedia article and it has not really helped...