Wooden train set advice

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Hello all,

A friend is giving us their low wooden train table for our 2yo, so I intend to ask those who will be buying presents for wooden train set bits to go on it so we don't get lots of random presents I need to find storage for .
Does anyone have any tips? Any must have bits? Is Brio the best make? Are the mostly all compatible with each other.

Thanks all.

We have brio and it is good-paint stays on despite a lot of banging and dropping. The wooden Thomas and Friends trains on Amazon fit the track so we have some of those too. Worth checking out TK Maxx as they sometimes have Brio in store or on their website.

We had Tesco wooden track, far cheaper than Brio or ELC and we still dig it out for younger visitors. Ds1 is now 12.

We added buildings, stations etc. It is a good investment but you really don't need the Brio name. We have Thomas stuff, mixed in with Tesco/ELC/Brio as some were given as gifts. It should all slot together.

We like bigjigs as an alternative to brio, and supermarket sets are OK for the basic track. Not keen on ikea as it had plastic connectors which are a bit difficult.

I looked this up one time, and was delighted to discover that there's a standard "gauge" for wooden toy trains! So they should basically all slot together; it's just that the track "cross section" might differ between different makes (so one might have square edges, while another has curves etc - but they'll still work together).

We had an eye wateringly expensive brio set with bridges etc (think it was a 50 year anniversary set) and probably about 20 of the wooden Thomas the tank engine trains and they were brilliant and he played with them for a good couple of years along with the Thomas the tank engine books box set. ds used to be so proud of himself that he knew the name of every engine in the 30 books set (think its up to >60 books now) and would pick a book to be read to him every night.

Actually thinking back, overall we probably spent more on the train stuff than the iPhone he desperately wants this year . But it got handed onto a very grateful niece a few years later.

We have a mixture of "carousel" brand (v cheap from supermarket) and bigjigs. The latter is better quality, though not as good as the brio my parents have. Brio is even expensive second hand on eBay. I'd definitely recommend the Bigjigs, especially for "extension" packs of points, flexible sections, bridges and tunnels. And yes, not keen on the ikea stuff due to plastic connectors.

I have bought my son a bigjigs set. Recommended on the Christnas bargain thread from a site called little bundles. They had some great sets at good prices

We got a great bigjigs set.

The ikea sets are really good quality - the plastic ends are useful as you can turn them a little to adjust the rail alignment for other sets. We mostly buy the basic track from Ikea, a few specialized bits from Brio, and special engines from the Thomas line. The Ikea bridge height isn't quite enough for some of the Thomas engines, but you can use these blocks underneath to make a double-height bridge out of four bridge pieces. DS (3) got his first set last Christmas and they get a huge amount of use.

I wouldn't rule out buying a job lot second hand - a two year old won't care :) we bought a bigjigs table and set and added a massive second hand lot. Most places do their own brand railway now, John lewis, elc etc, so just ask for railway stuff and you'll be fine.

The only wooden railway that's not really compatible is IKEA. It should be, but the lugs are plastic and they just don't fit the holes well on other brands. It is worth having some IKEA track though, because you can push the lugs out to make double female/double male ended pieces of track. Ikea brdiges are very good too.

Thanks all. You have all been most helpful.