Wood Train Set & Thomas the Tank Engine

[lotsofthingstolearn]

DS currently has a Brio starter set

Two questions

1. Are the Wooden TTTE engines compatible with BRIO
2. If you were to add some bits to a starter set- bridges/ sheds etc which bits would you add- they're expensive so don't want to waste money

Thanks

Yes they are compatible, as are most wooden tracks (bigjigs, ikea, etc), although some fit a bit better than others. Also some of the Thomas trains don't fit under the other makes bridges.

My boys have Tidmouth Sheds, a signal house, the quarry mine, a level crossing, a castle drawbridge thing, and another bridge, all Thomas and mostly bought from ebay, as like you say, they are very expensive. Tidmouth sheds probably the best buy and it came with its own turntable but it takes up quite a lot of space.

The wooden Thomas trains we've bought have been compatible. Also, I'd stick to big jigs, ikea or John Lewis own brand track etc, cheaper and does same job. A station gets used a lot here, as do simple bridges (two chunky bits) by ds, 3.2. Don't rule out second hand either, we got a job lot for £40 and ds doesn't care its not new :)

Yes the trains fit fine. I would be wary about buying ikea track to go with brio. It is 'compatible' in that it is the same gauge but we found that is much more awkward and stiff to put ikea with brio track than with their own kind. I found it fiddly and annoying and DS just couldn't do it, though he can put brio together. We've ended up weeding out the ikea, sticking it in. Cupboard and buying more brio. I have no experience of it but I expect some if the others (big jigs etc) fit better, perhaps someone can advise.

That said i have never heard anyone complaining about the ikea track so maybe it's just us!

Birding widow, it's not just you, we have the same problem. It fits if you force it but it's not easy. We have stuck with it though, my DS is nearly three so will just whinge ask for help if he's trying to join the different types.

DS had a combination of Brio and ELC track which fitted fine. IME the "best" extra was the bridge- much huffing and puffing on the way up, "wheeeeee"ing going down and hooting going underneath :o

Also (unless things have changed wildly over the years) take very good care of the Thomas trains, as when they're outgrown some eBay bidders will get into a bidding war over them and buy them for more than you paid new originally :o

My boys love their wooden train set (as do I, I may have been known to be building a track and then realise they have left the room ). Their favourite bits are the bridges and the supports so they can make raised bits of tracks. They also like the railway crossing (Thomas one), cranky the crane and tidmouth sheds. I also would get some extra straights and curves, my 4 yr old says you can never have enough track

The Thomas stuff is definitely compatible with brio, we have a combination of both, as well as extra bits of track from Tesco (not sure if they still do their own as been a while since we lived in UK, but we got a great drawbridge from there as well), and some from a big store here in NZ, they all work together. The only thing I have found isn't really compatible are chuggington trains as they don't fit under the bridges.

I find the wooden trains great as you can add bits at birthdays and christmas, they are getting a couple of trains and an above the track signal this year .

We have loads of brio, ikea and Bigjigs stuff. The best loved is a little bell that goes 'ting' when the train passes it. It was Brio, about £7.
The packs of male-male, female-female connectors are v useful to build more complex layouts, and we have a couple of pieces of flexible track from Bigjigs which allow you to cobble pretty much anything together.

Stacking track supports which lock on to each other and don't over balance are brilliant - we do triple decker bridges and they stay up even if wobbled.

These (best £7 I've spent on Amazon):
www.amazon.co.uk/BRIO-BRI-33253-Stacking-Track-Supports/dp/B00004T1BV

We've had no problems with tesco and brio mixed. lidl are doing wooden toys from Monday and they have a good set so worth popping in if you have one locally. Love a nice wooden train set. plenty of bridges and junctions ate important to get good tracks. Oh and some of the special bits which are double ended ate useful, look on Amazon, as you can otherwise get stuck having built an amazing track only to find yourself with a gap where you have 2 bits with the same end facing each other. Do annoying when that happens!