Brio and "Thomas" query

[Bozza]

A few months ago we decided to buy DS a Brio or Brio compatible train set for Christmas. We have not yet bought it and in the meantime DS has developed a strong affection for Thomas the Tank Engine. Can we get a Thomas train that is compatible with the Brio? Is it one of the wooden ones I've seen, or a Tomy one or a plastic one? DS is not yet two so we would prefer a manual engine.

Also DH is going to make him a board for this train. He plans to cover it with green felt or baize. Does anyone know where I can source this? Either mail order or in the Yorkshire/Lancashire area.

TIA

Bozza, Brio used to have the product licence for Thomas wooden trains, but it either lapsed or Gullane (the licence holders) withdrew it.
Anyway, you can now get Brio-compatible wooden Thomas trains, carriages, wagons etc from the Early Learning Centres (limited range in most of the branches I have seen) and from some other department stores and toyshops. Hamleys in London carries the full range - not that this is much use to you, sorry.
WARNING: they are incredibly expensive...and habit-forming.

Bozza, we've got a couple of Bob the Builder ones which we use on our Tescos wooden track - compatible with Brio. also - I saw a nice battery powered brio train in John Lewis recently - it goes back & forwards and dd might see one in her stocking this Christmas
The thought of your dh making a felt-covered board has given me a warm glow!

For our ds's 2nd birthday we got the figure of eight Thomas wooden train set from ELC. Cost £25 but included a bridge, Thomas, and Annie & Clarabel (you'll get to know their names very quickly!) and has been played with every single day since. We've added to it extensively as it fits with Brio, Tesco, M&S and most other wooden train sets. Best present we ever got him, and has made future presents very easy eg this Christmas he's getting James and some extra track and a station.

The play tables are disgustingly expensive (£125) so I thought I'd make tunnel shaped sides out of mount board for ds's ordinary play table, but got caught out by the fact that the track was too big, and as we bought more bits has spread over a huge area of floor, being constantly rebuilt and evolving.

bundle, the battery powered ones are a bit slooooooooow - they only run on an AAA battery so not a lot of power (just in case you might be disappointed when it doesn't go haring round the track!) Still good fun though - if you get 2 you can have crashes.

The ones with lights are great especially if you turn the lights in the room off.

The battery powered ones are good fun, but use up batteries very quickly (especially if you keep hearing a whuzz whuzz whuzz only to realise it's gone under the sofa and been left there). One of the reasons we ended up switching to re-chargeable batteries!

Bozza, I found

www.stilesandbates.co.uk/craft_supplies

they have green baize but only in pieces, 17.5" by 1 metre I think (it's intended for lining boxes) at £5.45 each which sounds like a lot.

Have a look in Yellow Pages under craft supplies or fabric retailers?

Bozza, I hope your ds gets as much entertainment out of his train track as my ds has - I second what bettys says about it being a brilliant present. Ds is still keen on it at 5, dd at 3 loves it too, and even better it is something they can play together with!

thanks janh, bettys re: batteries...story of my life

BE warned - train track is completely addictive.....

just to add to the battery train debate
We have 2 trains - a thomas train and a tesco train - the thomas train was v dear at £15 but uses aa battery and lasts quite well, the tesco train was about £6 and uses aaa battery - it gets slow v quickly but the flashing lights and noise are great (and run off another battery).

The thomas train is better on the track, the tesco one can't cope as well on the shorter bends.

The tesco track is excellant, compatabile with all our ELC and BRIO/ELC track and much cheaper.

Ditto the other comments, ds at 3y and dd at 19m both love playing with it and is great for sharing when they have friends around.

Enjoy!

I'm pretty sure I saw green felt at John Lewis here in London. If it's here, it's probably in your local John Lewis. Another idea is Astroturf (plastic grass) which you might be able to find in B&Q or Homebase.

Thanks everyone. I will start to investigate the green felt ideas. DH is set on getting a proper Brio track (probably only a figure of 8 or soemthing to start with) initially. Although we will probably end up adding to it with other makes or Ebay stuff. But it sounds like the ELC Thomas trains are compatible. Is that right?

I am hoping that the train track addiction will avert DS from the growing Thomas video addiction. He's only allowed one 6 mintue episode a day but is constantly badgering us about "De-der".

Bundle its very much out of character for DH who normally leaves most things like this to me. And notice who is doing the leg work! Although having said that he did paint DS a huge rainbow mural of his wall before he was born so maybe I'm a bit mean.

Just to give you all a bit of a laugh on the Thomas theme. DS was looking at our wedding photo. He pointed at the Rolls-Royce and said car, then at DH and said Daddy and then at me and said Harold - yes as in "-the Helicoptor". Glad to know thats what I looked like in my wedding dress!!

We've bought brio track and Thomas engines and a bridge for my son's Christmas present. We've tried the engine and it does run on the brio track. I got it from Mail Order Express - the website is mailorderexpress.co.uk. They've got loads of stuff.

Bozza, we had a pine tray thing made for DS's train, and we got some aerosol green woodstain from B&Q - it looks absolutely fab. Felt might make things a bit wobbly? Also, sounds like the spray would work out much cheaper

Ds is three today (now sleeping soundly!) My family and I bought him a little collection of Brio things and he is sooo happy with it all. I'm a bit of a Brio snob, it must be the Swedish blood in me...Can anyone suggest a cheaper place to shop for Brio, especially on the internet?

EVERYONE STOP!!!!

Fantastic wooden train sets and loads of extra wooden stuff too. Compatible with Brio,Tesco,ELC,Thomas wooden train sets.

Go onto Ebay.co.uk and search for 'wooden train sets' loads of great NEW bargains will come up.

We just got a great one for our DS (2.5 yrs)106 pieces (not loads of trees either!) for 27.00
Really good value set - can't remember who we bought it from but will look it up and post message later. (I'm at work on my lunchbreak)

Our DS also into Thomas - his grandparents are getting him the 'Thomas train' from the ELC for Xmas as it is compatible with the wooden set we have just bought.

Well worth taking the time to check it out.

Paula1

Green aerosol paint sounds like a great idea to me. Might give it a try myself.

Thanks for the tip.

Paula1

Green aerosol paint sounds like a great idea to me. Might give it a try myself.

Thanks for the tip.

Most of the fun with brio/wooden train sets is making it. My 2 yr old spends hours going under tables and over books so I am not sure if a board is a good idea. ELC do a Thomas which goes on the wooden tracks, I have found that all own brands and Brio seem to be compatible. Sainsburys have a cheap figure of 8 at the moment. My husband has recently set up a board for a Hornby set the boys have. Go to any model shop for the the green grass on rolls, looks good when down. We have bought both the wooden tracks and Hornby via Ebay very successfully and a lot cheaper than in the shops.

Good luck

Current cheap offers - a big set (80 pieces?) for just over £13 at Asda (not the best quality, but value at the price for extra track, etc), and the mountain set for £19.99 (usually £24.99) at Tesco.

Totally agree with whoever said trains and track are addictive - both for ds and me! We picked up a basic wooden track and train set from Tesco last Christmas and it is ds's favourite thing - we are adding to it with additional trains from Tesco/ELC and the Thomas & Friends trains (Learning Curve now have the franchise to make the Thomas trains). Brio stuff is great, but pricey - eg. an engine shed is about £7 at Tesco but Brio will charge about £25.
But I am totally addicted to bidding on Ebay for bits of track and trains!

Ds1 is also Thomas mad but is quite happy with non Thomas engines (MUCH cheaper), he calls the blue one Thomas, red James etc and doesn't seem bothered that they don't have faces. He was bought a 'real' Thomas last week and now thinks that he has two !

Bozza, you may have already done some kind of green base for your Brio track but, if not, toyshops which sell "Warhammer" games have grassy base sheets in a variety of sizes and colours - `not wildly expensive - might be worth a try.

(Look up Games Workshop in Yellow Pages if you don't have an ordinary toyshop`locally, they are the source for Warhammer.)

If you've already sorted it out, hope your DS is loving it!

Just spotted your message JanH and thanks - it was nice of you to remember. We actually found some green felt on Lincoln market on a day trip there and DH made a board. DS is still a bit clumsy with the train and sends it down the hill so fast it invariably derails - but he'll get there.. He also seems to need to sit in the middle of one loop of the figure of eight which is a bit of a tight squeeze for him Actually the Fisherprice garage (grandparents) and various friction cars are more of a hit at the moment but I can see the train set growing on him.

Just to say thanks to jan for the Thomas and track you brought us in the summer. It has been played with so much and ds1's thomas pyjamas much admired at dagis.

DS1's christmas presents were mainly bought at the Brio PlayMuseum in Osby in middle Sweden. I understand that Brio has lost the franchise to making the Thomas et al trains. Does anyone know who else has it now?