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Original poster

play table for train set,are they worth the £££

17 replies

polly28 · 04/12/2005 16:53

would love to get the train track of the floor and was wondering about a play table with sides to put it on.They are really expensive but wondered if anyone found that they were too restrictive ie.does your child want to make bigger tracks than are possible on the table.?

OP posts:
KBearthePolarBear · 04/12/2005 17:08

Haven't got one - our train track goes round the living room! I put it away once a week to hoover properly and the rest of the time I hoover round it! BUT I know the ELC train one is £200 but there is one for £100 which is plain wood if you want to economise. I think it would be a good idea to contain the track but alot of money.

Sorry, doesn't answer your question but my DS (4) loves the one in ELC and their tracks are doubled up round the table.

bsg · 04/12/2005 17:08

I think they are too small. Unless you want to stack the tracks up which is tricky and a nuisance if they keep knocking them down.

GoodKingWestCountryLass · 04/12/2005 19:06

We got one for DS 2 years ago from ELC (they were bigger then) and it was the best £150 we have spent. We have to use a lot of planning to get all his track and accessories on the table, lots of junctions and the like which is great fun for DS. DS is absolutely train mad and he loves his trains and table!

I think the Great Little Trading Co do one a bit bigger than the TRU/ELC one and it ha drawers underneath.

Also, if you want to pack the trains away it is a great height for kids to play with the Little People/Happy Lands playsets and the like

blueteddy · 04/12/2005 19:08

Message withdrawn

katymac · 04/12/2005 19:08

My brother had 3 sheets of chipboard that fitted under his bed and only got out by my dad.

The track was actually fitted to the wood tho'

skinnycow · 04/12/2005 19:16

in TRUS they are selling the table and train set for about £100 i think -

blueteddy · 04/12/2005 19:17

Message withdrawn

merrySOAPBOXingday · 04/12/2005 19:43

We bought one of the green topped wooden one's about 3 years ago and it is still used all the time.

DS uses it for building just about anything on, and DD and I use if for any crafty things we might be doing.

Perhaps not having the Thomas one, means that it is more flexible in the long run??

We also bought one of the benches that fit underneath with 3 big pull out fabric drawers, from Letterbox IIRC.

This means 6 children can use the table comfortably, 3 sitting on either side, which is useful for when friends come round to play!

All in all, if you have the room for it, or a separate play room, I think they are a very good buy

puff · 04/12/2005 19:45

I keep wondering about these. I'd need a pretty big one - it would live in the middle of the kitchen floor, but I'm fed up with tripping over track. The kitchen is big so it woud be ok.

gingernut · 04/12/2005 19:50

We have one like this with 4 storage boxes underneath (they are half the size of the one pictured). It's too small for train track unless you have lots of junctions and curved track. At the moment we use it for ds's playmobil fire station.

IlanaK · 04/12/2005 19:50

I made one of these for my son about 3 years ago and it is still going strong. I am crap with DIY so if I can do it anyone can!

Basically, I had an old wooden coffee table that was quite low to the ground that we were not using anymore. (go out to a secondhand shop and you might find one). I bought a piece of cheap MDF to fit on the top to make it much bigger (make to any size you want really) and glued it on. Then I bought some of the wooden beading that you use on edges of floors or the kind you use on edges of cabinet. I glued that to the top at the edge so that it had an edge to stop pieces falling off. I also fitted some plastic corner protecters on it. Oh, and before I fitted all that, I did paint the MDF white.

Anyway, we use it for train tracks, car sets, doll's house, farm sets - whatever really. It sits in ds's room and has been totally fine. In fact, when it was first made, we lived somewhere different and it was in our living room.

Total cost was about £20.

HTH!

Original poster
polly28 · 04/12/2005 20:03

great idea ilana,thanks.have always thought they look easy to make.Whether or not i'd ever get around to doing it is another matter though!

I'll have a look at the toysrus website again although I searched for a table on it earlier and didn't see one.

OP posts:
mckenzie · 04/12/2005 20:05

we bought ours from Blooming Kids I think. Fantastic. It's either covered in trains and track or lego or cars or drawing bits. Highly recommend one, or a similar home made version.

GoodKingWestCountryLass · 04/12/2005 20:14

Here you go:

www.toysrus.co.uk/Product.aspx/TruHome/TruSpecialOffers/TruSpecialOffersToys/734764

MarsyChristmas · 04/12/2005 20:17

there you go!

Original poster
polly28 · 04/12/2005 20:19

greta saw it,thanks,now dh thinks making one with an old ikea table we have is the best idea...so guess I'll be off to B&Q for some mdf tomorrow.anything to save the pennies.

Thanks for the replies,seems it is worth having one.Now ds won't have to keep fighting with the dog for the space on the rug.

OP posts:
merrySOAPBOXingday · 04/12/2005 23:06

IIRC someone on ebay sells a home made version ready for you to decorate for around £30. Might save having to dust off the saws

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