A train set can sound good on paper, but there’s nothing like hands-on play to tell you whether it’s going to be the right choice for your family or classroom. Harnessing Brio’s design innovation, these tools aid in customizing Brio trains, broadening the scope of track designs and play possibilities.

However, Brio tends to use the more traditional beechwood for their track whilst Bigjigs Rail use rubberwood. If they have a brownish railroad tie design pressed into the top side for the trains, and a dashed line down the car side, then they’re Thomas Wooden Railway tracks. It is also worth noting that certain brands offer differing switches, turnouts and other specialist pieces and sizes, which overtime will help create the uniqueness of your set and is the advantage of using multiple companies products.

There are a few Thomas and Friends sets that came out last year that have a feature that may help with that…read the Thomas section in my wooden train set guide if you’re curious ( http://play-trains. They are also both compatible with other wooden train sets like Thomas and Ikea, and you can clean all wooden train sets simply. And this post is just one of many in our Ultimate Wooden Train Guide, where you can find advice and recommendations for everything from the best train table to put your new train set on to the best battery-operated wooden train to zoom around it. While it includes passenger coaches instead of freight cars, and so doesn’t offer the fun of loading and unloading freight, it does include two people and two houses.

Imaginarium: Similar to Melissa and Doug, Imaginarium's tracks and trains also work well with Brio train tracks. Wooden train sets are an invaluable way for children to explore their imagination and unleash their creativity through play. And if you still have trouble with the tracks falling apart too often, I have a post about temporary ways to keep train tracks together on a train table…it’s geared toward wooden trains, but I think some of the solutions would work for Trackmaster tracks as well.

The surfaces of these new ones are quite wobbly (as opposed to a nice, smooth, sand-flat surface), with rough patches on the wood and occasional splinters near the cuts. You must set a realistic budget to find one with features, quality, and play value suitable for you. Beyond grieving the fond memories from my childhood and my child’s childhood, I also felt the loss of the Imaginarium wooden train line. If you traveled back in time to my son’s toddler days, you would find us on his bedroom floor, surrounded by wooden train tracks. Additionally, you could consider incorporating other accessories such as trees, buildings, and roadways to create a more realistic and immersive train environment.