Brio/train set experts please come and talk to me!

[onlyatchristmastime]

Feeling very cosy and excited to have the Christmas username dusted off!

I’m set on a classic, probably Brio, train set for Christmas for my DS who will be just turned 2. I also have a daughter who will be 4 who is Disney princess-mad but I think she would also love a train set (they’re both mini engineers like DH, always twiddling at things to see how they work) and I suspect the more they have of it to put together, the more enjoyable a toy it will be. Most threads on here seem to agree that the track doesn’t need to be Brio, but that their special things - trains, stations, bridges etc - are worth the money.

Strategising the most fun/cost effective way to do this - thinking I should get DS a Brio starter set, maybe the one with the light up rainbow thingy? And get DD the Brio Disney princess railway. And then supplement it with a track expansion pack from somewhere like John Lewis or Bigjigs so they can put it all together and cover the playroom floor. Or should I prioritise getting a train with an engine - if so should it be the steam one? Any tips on when and where is the best way to purchase all of this? So many options!

Should say I don’t (currently) have any concerns about them playing together, and I would prefer not to buy second hand as I am a bit weird about things that have been on the floor in houses I can’t vouch for…

TIA Christmas fans 🤶

That’s true too. I guess it would stand up to good old fashioned hot soapy water fine.

We have brio, bigjigs, Sainsbury's version and IKEA and it all works with each other. My 6 and 3 year old love it and get it out most days

The Brio track absolutely is worth it. The other ones lose their jigsaw ends after a bit of rough and tumble.

I'm going to try and get a second hand train table with drawer perhaps - at the moment it's just in a generic IKEA cube storage

It's also a perfect thing to suggest to people for presents "something for the train set".

Get them to check with you first that you haven't overlapped but you could end up with lots of track and bits that way.

I got a huge box of second hand brio/big jigs wooden track off eBay a few years ago for my then 2 year old, it’s been the most played with toy. Second hand was great as it came with loads of trains, connectors and bridges so we’ve not had to buy any more. We also got a new rechargeable motorised brio engine to go with it. Would recommend.

After buying I gave it all a good soapy bath, it was during covid so was extra paranoid, and it dried and survived fine

My daughter got bought one for her birthday and quite liked it …but the battery train was a game changer. She now LOVES it. It’s only quite a small set so will probably either get some second hand or another set so we can do more fancy layouts! Lots of fun for everyone (Grandad loves it too!)

I'm old school and find the concept of the self driving trains quite dull. It's so passive to watch them chug round, it's much better to have one without batteries that you can push and crash at whatever speed you want.

The electric one is quite therapeutic to watch, especially if you have tracks with junctions, to see which way it goes. I'd only get one electric one though.

This is the thread for me - I love Brio/wooden trains & bought some for DS shortly before he turned 2. He plays with it every day now & we have loads of it. Agree that Brio branded stuff for gifts/ special items is good, and I bought a couple of the Aldi sets for Christmas gifts too which are fun. Track & generic stuff is all from eBay, there are some great bargains to be had. Looking forward to Black Friday deals!

I would advise holding off a while on a battery operated engine. It limited the way my dc played with the trains. It was a very exciting addition after a year or more of manual play.

I found ikea track brilliant precisely because of the plastic bits a pp mentioned. Sometimes the wild and wonderful tracks didn’t match up at the end and being able to change a male end to a female or vice versa kept the peace.

Definitely look at the brio-duplo connectors if you have any Duplo. We never had them but they look amazing.

What the Dickens....I'm getting all emotional reading about Brio.
My boys (now 14 and 24) had many, many hours of fun with theirs.
We had a mix of Brio and generic brands. All fine, but Brio is top quality.
The battery trains were a big hit. Well timed themed carriages made great gifts, as did the larger crane, engine sheds etc.

Is this a sign I'm ready for grandchildren?!

I think the battery ones maybe appeal more to a slightly older child who has thoughtfully built a track, with junctions, a station and signals etc

Oh we got a compatible (in size) bag of buildings, animals, trees etc so we could make a whole village.

We bought Brio for DS last year (aged 2) and went for this set. I paid £64 for it last year in the Black Friday sales so worth keeping an eye out 😊 DS is almost 3 and still plays with it almost daily. Have bought a huge box of secondhand bits to extend it with off of Vinted a few weeks ago. Gave them all a good scrub and they’ve come up great 😊

Battery powered train is a big hit here! He plays with the basic one loads too - just depends what takes his fancy on the day 😊 Adding a steam train to his collection this year.

Definitely go for Brio. And get a big bundle second hand from Facebook (likely too expensive to use a postal service like Vinted as it’s so heavy), then something special for each of them new. Mine loved the battery powered trains but that was after a couple of years of normal trains. We always wished we had more mini connectors for two pieces joining with the same end. For storage it has been fine for us in a strong Kallax box (bottom shelf!), they can rummage in it, tip it all out and find what is needed, but also easily tidy up! You could keep any special bits separate if you wanted.

This is a brilliant extra for when you've made an amazing circuit and it doesn't quite fit together

www.bigjigstoys.co.uk/products/crazy-track-pack-of-2?keyword=crazy

With the age of your DC, I imagine your DD will spend a lot of time building track and routes and then your DS destroying it (accidentally or on purpose). TK Maxx often have random sets. Beware that tunnels and bridges are probably equally fun but tunnels can be much more frustrating to build and keep up. For little ones, the single span ones are easier than the ones where your build track across struts.

Your missing out on the second hand. We have had about 4 big bundles from ebay; equating about 6 large boxes. So many big feature pieces, trains, characters, hills, bridges, you name it! You would not believe them! Practically brand new! We have thousands and thousands worth of brio, for probably less than £200.

Not Christmas related but hope you don’t mind me joining in.

Was thinking to get a Brio set for DD2’s first birthday, as I want to get her something special that she can grow into and we already have lots of the things usually suggested on first birthday gift idea threads.

DD1 already has a dolls house and play kitchen etc so I thought a train set would be a nice idea.

Just wondering which of the Brio My First Railway sets would be best to go for? Quite like the look of this one- https://www.brio.co.uk/en-GB/products/brio-world/my-first-railway/my-first-railway-beginner-pack-63372700.

It will be on purpose 🤣

The brio mountain and turntable were very big hits in our house. As well as bridges, we love a bridge.

The bugs jigs, lidl, brio and ikea track all fit together. The brio is nicer quality (my children play with the brio I played with) but the big jigs cranes etc are good and they love the lidl battery train.

it’s quite bulky to store. Three plastic boxes, one for track, one for tunnels, bridges etc and one for trains and other little bits. I fancy some of those duplo blocks which can be used to make long bridges.

It’s definitely worth goi g for brio style over some of the other options. We had the duplo one as well and whilst it is nice they gre out of it really fast. They still play with the Brio at 7 and 9.

It does make it better when you have a big range of pieces. So I would really think about second hand? (I think you could steam clean it without any issues?)

If you go for one of the compatible ones then check they have rail grooves on both sides. (Some of the cheap ones are only cut on one side which is limiting.

I hope they have a fantastic time with it!