Apollo has finally reached an age where he can play with his train set (and not simply try and smash the tracks together to make noise)! We received a base Thomas the Tank engine set as a gift and while that is a fun starter kit, there isn’t enough variation after awhile.
Buying wooden Thomas sets (or one of the other name-brand brands like Brio) is super, super expensive. I suppose you’re would consider them family heirlooms since they don’t really break or age (although the paint is starting to rub off of Thomas), and technological advances (i.e., motorized/compact versions) just don’t feel the same.
In any case, instead of buying some more Thomas sets, we went the cheap route and bought 2 IKEA additions which were relatively affordable (under $20 each), had a nice variety of cars and tracks, and more or less fit the Thomas tracks. The train gauge is the same, the majority of the pieces fit together (although the connections are not exactly the same so some types will not fit together and often you have to work to fit them in) but the polarity of the car magnets are reversed. Not a big deal as the savings in price is significant.
The best part about the train set is not moving the cars around, but coming up with interesting configurations for the tracks. Here are a couple I setup. Apollo doesn’t understand or appreciate the intricacies of making novel tracks yet as he’s more interested in connecting cars into a long chain, and sliding them down hills into the station but at some point hopefully he will!
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