Thomas the Train - West Linn,OR

I've had good luck at Learning Palace on Canyon Rd. in Beaverton. And they have a train table set up there for kids to play with, so you could see it all in action. Good luck!

Imaginarium here too- we have a bunch of the different sets (decided not to do a table so we could build on additional tracks and change the configuration- an iffy decision at first, but now that he's getting older, he's really enjoying putting the tracks together however he likes) and a bunch of the Thomas engines to go on them. Tip: go on ebay for the engines. We got a bunch of them for .99 each with free shipping! The Thomas stuff is so expensive in the stores. You can always buy the individual gates and things separately that will fit into the Imaginarium tracks. btw, we play with the actual Thomas table at the library, and IMO, if you have a taller child, he'll have to bend over or be on knees to reach well. It's a good height for my shorter son, but I've seen many kids who want to play and are too tall for it so it's not so comfortable.

We never used a table... just had the tracks on the carpet. When we wanted them to stay together I just used packing tape on the bottom of them (funny thing to watch when I would pick of a "ring" of taped tracks together that was over 6' in diameter and carry it to a different part of the house). But ordinarilly we'd just leave them untaped. Having them on the carpet kiddo usually sat in the middle of them, and as he got bigger, and we added new things we just changed the size of the "circle". Obviously not really a circle.

We were HUGE fans of the all wood/non-motorized thomas schtuff. Motorized and plastic just wasn't interactive (although he'd sit like a lump and stare at it), and the plastic had a tendency to break. (We'd occasionally get plastic and motorized stuff from others for xmas and bdays. After a few days we'd just start to shift them out of circulation).

By the END of the thomas fixation (about 4 years of almost daily play, and 2 years of kiddo kissing his trains goodnight)... we had almost everything. But we STARTED with the figure 8 track with the little bridge/overpass and kiddos 2 favorite engines. Then we'd add on about 1 new engine or car about once a month. Kiddo would pay for 1/2 the cost of them out of his allowance when we were in the bookstore until he was 4 and then he'd pay for them completely. I think by adding on slowly it helped keep the excitement & magic alive... because there was always someone new to introduce to the other engines and play with. Plus, it was a good "saving your pennies" kind of thing.

I'm keeping all of them boxed for future (hopefully) grandkids. Being solid wood they've survived 4 years of play by a very rambunctious boy quite nicely.

((Note: Even at age 8, kiddo still occasionaly dives into the trains for awhile. He calls it "Visiting with old friends so they know they're still loved."))

My little brother LOVES the sets that have attach magnetically (the trains... the tracks are just interlocking plastic...) He just used them straight on the floor. They have talking ones, quiet ones, accessories, etc. My brother played with them from ages 3-now... he is 5, and still loves them.

We purchased the generic wooden tracks from Ikea and target. I really like Ikeas's sets and they are so much cheaper than the Thomas tracks. We purchase the Thomas engines and other characters at Target and Toys R Us.

We have the Imaginarium Round House table. My 2 yr old LOVES it and its compatiable with all Thomas the trains and friends. The Thomas the Train table was ridiculously expensive and in my opinion, not as good as the one we have. Our train table is def tall enough for a three y/o. Good luck!

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=393102...

We have some trains at home and my son LOVES them! We have the wooden ones. Get a starter set and a set that has something interesting (maybe a water tower) or some extra track, and you're good to go! We play with it on the carpet, so no 'need' for a table at first. Wait to see how it goes.

My sister gave my mom the wooden sets her sons had for YEARS and they are still in great shape! My nephews are VERY destructive boys, and the tracks are great. Some of the weaker plastic joints of the bridges are broken, but all in all they held up well.

We have LOTS of wooden train engines and different cars and at Grandma's, but the three metal battery-operated ones were kind-of a waste of money. They will only pull about three or four cars (my son always wants to make a train out of all 37!), the batteries run down relatively fast, and my son still wants to push them because they move slow (which will strip the gears and ruin them).

My only advice is start with the ones without batteries. The battery operated ones are not as nice, break relatively easy, and are not as much fun as the ones you move by yourself. My son really really wanted a "Thomas who goes by himself" for his birthday, and now it mostly sits on the shelf while he plays with the regular ones. The ones that go by themselves are fun to watch for about 5 minutes and then it's over.

J.

Hi there! My son is two and just this month has fallen in love with Thomas! I too, have agonized over which engines to get him, Thomas of course, but there are so many varieties. I settled on the wooden Thomas. Not motorized, not talking. I figured as he gets older, we can get into the more serious versions of the engines, motorized and talking and the tracks as well. We have a small train table from Step 2. It's not as nice as the ones from Imaginarium so eventually I'd like to get him one of those. But....for now, I bought him a train rug. It has tracks on the rugs and best of all, there is nothing to clean up :) Good luck with your decision.

P.S. If you don't have time to order from E-Bay, I have found that Wal-mart has the cheapest prices for Thomas stuff. Amazon too!

My son got his table for his 3rd birthday and he was a good size for it. We bought some great basic track sets and such at Target that aren't the Thomas brand and they work amazingly. We buy the specific characters and buildings that are Thomas and go generic for all the filler. You have to learn the trick to keep the steeper treacks together, otherwise, yeah, they do pop apart all the time. You have to put a riser support on both sides of the joint to make it stay most of the time.

I say imaginarium myself i bought it for my son and it is great. the thomas train table i don't think comes with the track it is sold seperately i say buy the imaginarium and then just some thomas trains.....that is your best deal.

We purchased the Imaginarium Train Set and Table from Toys 'R Us last year for only $129 (the entire thing!) and my son LOVES it. He has played with it every day for more than a year. The table even comes with two drawers for storage. We've even added track so he has some on the table and some on the floor. Circo (target), most Brio, Thomas, Ikea and Imaginarium pieces and trains all work together so you don't have to pay the higher price for the Thomas brand.

My son turns 3 tomorrow so he has been able to enjoy this set since he was 22 months old and we are adding more pieces to it for xmas. It's the best investment we've made so far!

my son loves his thomas train. we bought a generic train set.. that came with all the tracks we need. it was $30 (target) he gets new train cars for each birthday and christmas..the train cars are about 10-20 each. we have quite a few trains. we dont have a train table.. it is quite a piece of furniture.. and I really dont want to have the trains out all the time.. he gets out he trains and builds the tracks on the floor.. the bridges take some skill to set up right. but they do stay together.. the thomas brand tracks are a better quality than the generic.. but they do cost more.. lots more.