Not that it bothered her at all, but one caveat – there is a short section of elevated track supported on piers (leftmost section in stock photo) that tends to “collapse” (supported section slides away from piers) easily. Some youngsters may find that frustrating and some parents, when the youngsters need help setting the track again and again and again, may find “frustrating” too mild a term…. We didn’t have that problem since the 2-year old wasn’t interested in that section, but others may want to try something like rubber cement (sticky enough hold track on piers but non-permanent, so set can be taken down) or even a loop of masking tape.

As a model railroader who didn’t succeed in luring any of my children into the hobby, I rate the set a huge success as a start in luring my granddaughter, at least.
Rating: 4 / 5

TrackMaster is for the slightly larger battery operated trains that have no magnets on them. The fact that the wooden ones still work on this track is great as Thomas can push them around the track. The fact that does not state they are plastic is moot, as they do say “TrackMaster” which implies it.

Also the TrackMaster trains do work on the wooden tracks too.

Rating: 5 / 5

As parents, it doesn’t take much (a few minutes at most) to find a little info about what exactly you buy for your child. By the way, I am a Credentialed teacher of secondary education (high school) in California so I know a little about doing research…

That being said, this is a great value for the expansion of any Thomas Trackmaster version set or to just make your own track for your Trackmaster trains. It comes with a good amount of pieces and they are very durable as well as easy to assemble.
Rating: 4 / 5

With TrackMaster’s Thomas Adventure collection all of this quickly changed.

For the last four days, I’ve been stuck model railroading with my eighteen month old son, Fox. I first purchased him the Sodor Adventure set, quickly assembled it with no trouble and became hooked. Both of us laid there on the carpet, mesmerized watching the little blue engine continually circling the track.

Not feeling satisfied, like any parent obsessed, I ran back out and purchased:

TrackMaster Backpack of Track Kit — $[...]

TrackMaster Track Expansion Kit — $[...]

TrackMaster Mountain of Track — $[...]

TrackMaster Sodor Lumber Yard — $[...]

TrackMaster Thomas at The Station — $[...]

TrackMaster Sodor Adventure Set–$[...](*)

So in total, I spent about a $[...] You could actually do without the Backpack Kit and get two Expansion kits, as I later found it to be a better value. But it was more than worth the money I spent as this has really become the new time consuming thing to do all day long.

My chief complaints with the product is that the small bridge support pieces are not snappable or stackable like you would think, which would help you to elevate the track and keep it steady. To alleviate this problem, I had a flash of genius and pulled out some Lego sets and started building bridges, adding houses and some little people. Fox is going crazy over this stuff.

What I’ve found in the last number of days playing with Model Railroads, is that it’s a good lesson for my son to learn to ‘not touch’ or ‘watch’, ‘be gentle’ and ‘don’t grab’. After untold hours, he knows now to be gentle, not to grab the trains or the cars, dismantle the track or other set pieces. He also avoids walking on the track, too. Which was the first thing he was all about.

The Remote Control Engines that are available are also nice as they add the ability to go backwards and forwards and stop thus preventing collisions. My mind wants there to be electronic switching (haha), but that’s a bit advanced for Thomas and Friends.

This track is capable of being combined with the old blue track as well with a few adapter pieces which I’ve seen in the store and available on the Thomas website. Just be advised that some of these sets advertised are wooden, some are for the cars and some are both.

There are also quite a few engine sets, pulley cars, cabooses, containers, etc., available to add on to the track. All of them are battery operated and speed along very smoothly. They get high points for the low price point of between five and seven dollars per car or per set. Remember other Model Railroading equipment runs into the many hundreds. Also, the track is very flexible in terms of using other types of motorized vehicles and little cars.

Overall, this entire set is well worth the time and money and is durable and easy to install and quick to take down and put back up. We have a race to see if we can get all the track back in the box before bedtime every night too. Setting it up is actually part of the fun, too.

I’ll be playing with the stuff well into the new year, as will my son.

… …

Rating: 5 / 5

My grandson takes excellent care and great pride in his collections and will create a whole set of collectibles as he grows up. (Along with all the videos, shirts, hats, and other Thomas merchandise) And they have helped him through some rough times.

Thanks again.
Rating: 5 / 5

My son just loves this train; therefore, it gets 5 stars for “fun”. It stimulates his imagination, so I give it high marks for “educational value”. Finally, as a wooden toy, it is very durable. It can stand up to my 2 year old son throwing the pieces around.
Rating: 5 / 5

I have purchased two other sets and not had the problems like the Round House Set. Payed to much money for poor quality…

Rating: 2 / 5