Santa fe Loco train from ELC

[mckenzie]

Our Ds who will be two and a half at christmas has been going potty since seeing this train in the ELC catalogue. He is a complete train buff (spends just about every moment when we're at home playing with his thomas train set).

Does anyone have one of these trains (or know anyone who does) as I'd love to hear what others think about it before we consider buying it. It is expensive but I'd rather buy DS one big toy that he will love and use relentlessly than lots of little things that will get under my feet.

The question is though, will this traing et used or will it be a 5 minute wonder.

Your thoughts gratefully received.

ELC page 138 for anyone who has the time/inclination to take a look.

Thansk all.

my god its 100 quid!

get him a bit of wooden track.

where are you going to put it? how long does it take to charge?

How will he share it with his little pals?
I am sorry but I think one hit wonder that you will dread him wanting out. Get wooden track - ds1 (5) stil plays with his

and the track is extra!!

10 day wonder maybe!
I'd get more track for Thomas, ds is almost 5 and plays every day with his wooden track, we just keep adding bits to it. tesco do some good bits that ELC don't and they quite a bit cheaper. This year it's going to be the Level Crossing - page 72 and the station page 73 from ELC

and index

thanks all. and please dont apologise coswallop, I asked for your opinions and they make sense.

We've got one (2nd hand though, and it was a present from grandad who thought ds ought to have a train set!) but I'd have to say that the age ranges they specify are a little optimistic in my experience as at 25 months ds is now starting to get a little bit big/heavy for it so if your two and a half year old is big for his age you probably wouldn't get more than a years use out of it before he outgrows it.

At about 7 months ds loved it - although we had to hold him and press the buttons. At one he'd just about got the idea of pressing the buttons himself, but actually prefered to push it around the track with someone else on it. This summer he's still enjoyed it and played with it properly. Next summer will probably still be ok if we set it up on the road rather than the grass or use it without the tracks on a hard surface. After that I'd be surprised if it would still carry him as the battery in it isn't really that powerful.

It is quite big too - you could really only use it outside, so think about that before expecting him to use it relentlessly at this time of year - and it does require a fair amount of space to store it when it's not in use.

Where are you McKenzie? You could come and have a go on ours to see if you like it in practice rather than just in theory.

aah! Now that makes sense Gill