Train set for 4 year old

[Whitefluffyslipper]

My 4yo DS has really got into trains lately so want to get him a nice train set for Christmas. Would like one that that is battery powered but that you can buy more bits for and expand over time. I can't seem to see exactly what I'm looking for, does anyone have any recommendations?

Think I'd go for Thomas at that age - they do some great sets and they inter connect

Brio (or big jigs or ikea or lidl - all compatible) are very popular in our house. Every birthday, Christmas, and trip to the local train centre sees more bits added. He started with a basic brio starter set for his 1st birthday and is about to have the summer house kitted out for him have it out there.

You can get battery powered trains but my son prefers the manual one. He's asking father Christmas for a new train this year so think we'll get the brio one that produces steam as something a bit different

Definitely go with Brio or compatible ones (john lewis, lidl, bigjigs). John lewis has great starter kits - we bought one for DS years ago and built from there. You can buy alot of Brio second hand rather cheaply but there is Brio discounted in the Amazon sale at the moment. And you can buy Brio electric wagons which my son loves. Also look at Lidl as they had some really brilliant Brio dupes and imaginative sets.

Aldi and Lidl have some great sets. We have one from a few years ago and keep adding to it (they bring out loads of new sets each year). I’ve been so impressed with it. They are compatible with each other and Brio.

We had Brio, linked with IKEA years ago. Very sturdy, lots of things to do and change layouts.

While DD was obsessed with Thomas, the interest stopped when she started school but she still played with trains (DH is a model train enthusiast but she was not allowed to touch the very expensive Märklin set up).

I have a big John Lewis train set. They do add on pieces at John Lewis and I’ve bought extras from Big Jigs and websites selling unbranded track track pieces. John Lewis used to (hooefully still do) sell battery operated trains.

Great thank you everyone, I will check all of those out.