Train sets

[Rosebud1302]

Does anyone have any recommendations for good train sets for kids? Not brio/wooden ones. Thanks!

Can I ask why not wooden ones? They are really robust and last years, all wooden tracks fit together so you can add to it easily. We also got DS a huge box of brio from FB marketplace for admit £25, an older couple moving and they'd come across their adult son's in the loft. There's lots serving have sanity of the cost is prohibitive.
IME any plastic track will get broken

I’ve got a Duplo one (given to us), and I wish we had brio instead. You can get much more play value for the space it takes up, and it doesn’t make irritating fake train noises!

Hmm thanks both, we do have some wooden track but my son has asked for a more interactive one. With switches and tipping bridges/tunnels etc. Not sure if that exists in Brio? By the way definitely not a wooden hater - we have a lot of wooden toys. But if people say there are no decent other sets then I will get him Brio for sure.

We had a plastic Thomas the Tank Engine one. Dc were not able to play with this independently and tbh even I struggled putting the track together! Wished we'd gone for wooden instead.
How old are the dc?

You can definitely get points/lifting bridges and stuff with Brio.

We have both a Brio one and a Duplo one and both get played with. But the Duplo one feels like my DS can be more imaginative with it, and it combines well with the Duplo bricks he has, so we can build stations and towers and tunnels and things.

www.brio.net/products/all-products/railway/accessories/collapsing-bridge

www.bigjigstoys.co.uk/products/drawbridge

www.gulliverstoys.co.uk/Brio-Signal-Station-33674-for-the-Wooden-Railway-Track

DS is 4. I think you may have convinced me and I've just convinced him too haha. It does seem silly when we already have some wooden track. The wooden track we have is not Brio. Think it's from Lidl or similar (it was a present). Does anyone know if most wooden tracks tend to combine with Brio?

The non-Brio wooden tracks we have fit with the Brio ones, but I can't remember what make they are.

We have a very expensive Hornby train and track. DS is 4 and much prefers the brio. Most brio is cross compatible.

The Hornby one is less flexible in terms of the way you can set it up - We only have one configuration and to extend with switches etc is £££! It was a disappointing (grandparents) purchase.

My DS adored trains and had a huge collection of assorted wooden sets, BigJigs, Thomas, Tesco, Brio etc.

So when he was older we bought him a starter Hornby set. It was eye-wateringly expensive and such a disappointment.

The train was frustratingly temperamental and the tracks weren’t really designed to be put out, swapped around and packed away at whim.

In the end DS gave up on it and stuck to the lovely, sturdy, flexible wooden sets that allowed him to put together the most extraordinarily complicated layouts and that went on working until the batteries needed replacing, no matter how many times they were crashed or dropped, or accidentally kicked or stood on.

We did then buy every bit of working Brio kit that we could find to go with the wooden sets so he had years more enjoyment.

To add, we have Tesco, Lidl, Melissa and Doug and real brio - and it all fits together except that some of the bridges need to be with the right brand of hill iysyim

We have a combination of bigjigs, brio, ikea and Thomas track and they all fit together fine

Thanks all. Just looked and the sets are quite expensive aren't they!! Any good recommendations on a good all round set of Brio?

We have Brio, Ikea, John Lewis, Tesco and (I think) Lidl wooden tracks in our massive box. They all combine.

Sorry cross posted. Great to know so many sets combine!! Any general recommendations then of sets? Preferably to include tunnels switches etc

Hello - my son is 14 - only now is he getting into DH's old Hornby.

All the wooden track is compatible in my experience - Brio, Big Jigs, ikea, Thomas, John Lewis etc. I don't know if ikea stuff still has plastic male couplings - they were always handy, because you could push them out to make double male or double female endded sections.

We had plenty of interactive wooden railway accessories. A fire station with a bell that rings when the fireman goes down the chimney (brio), a magnetic crane with a turn handle to pick up magnetic blocks (Cranky, from Thomas); a big engine shed with a turntable (big jigs), several bridges (ikea).

Lots of it sells in great quality second hand. That’s how I got most of the more special and interactive bits for my son.

I really would recommend yhe John Lewis sets - same build quality as Brio imo. Maybe something like this if you already have some track www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-wooden-train-set-50-pieces/p4255343

We also have this turntable and points set which gives more track building options www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-wooden-train-expansion-pack/p4543162

Duplo is good but you actually can't get many different trains unless you buy secondhand and most are just push along trains.
There was a Toys R Us own brand which was plastic but fitted with the wooden ones and I think had more interactive parts. You might be able to get some secondhand - or maybe via online in places that still have TRU (ie Canada).

This was the brand I was thinking of. It's remote control, lots of functions and I am about 75% sure it's compatible with the wooden ones.

Buy a lot of track off eBay and then buy the bridge/points/tunnels new in box to open. If you want to make it look nicer as a gift buy a storage/toy chest to wrap and to pack away into.

For information if anyone is thinking of getting a starter / young child electric set, Marklin junior sets are much better than Hornby for little ones. We have both, the Hornby never gets touched!

You can get generic bridges, tunnels etc compatible with brio, also look for second hand. I sold mine on