What brand of train?

[corrieoseal]

DD is quickly approaching her 2nd birthday. With that in mind, I'd love to get her a small-ish train set (not a train table at this time as I'm not certain how interested she'll end up being in them.)

I love Brio, but they are harder and harder to come by since they are, depending on the person I talk to, either no longer being made for US distribution or completely bankrupt and not being made at all. Either way, unless I can find them on our limited Craigslist, it doesn't look like I'll be able to get a Brio set for DD.

I liked the Heros sets I found online at Moolka, but those are hard to find in stock. I saw a Nucci set that looked fairly cute, but have no idea about how good a brand it is.

So I am wondering what wooden train brand you love? I am skeptical about Melissa & Doug until I see more positive reviews and Thomas is a no for us. (DD doesn't watch anything but a few Sesame Street songs on youtube, so has no idea about the Thomas brand and refused to play with the Thomas set at the toy store, preferring the old Brio trains they had set up.)

Am I missing out on the perfect brand of train sets?

[redvlagrl]

What about the Ikea ones? They are wood, cheap, non-licensed (we also don't do licensed stuff) and you can get neat add ons, extra track bits etc.

[gagin37]

Originally Posted by redvlagrl

What about the Ikea ones? They are wood, cheap, non-licensed (we also don't do licensed stuff) and you can get neat add ons, extra track bits etc.

they are totally cute too!

[kirstenb]

We have a Plan Toys train set for DS that we both love.

[mamadelbosque]

Honestly, seeing as virtually all the sets (whether brio or thomas or total knock off) are made in china (with a handful of very expensive others), I'd just go for an off brand set that you like. They are all pretty much the same - all the wooden tracks are compatible with each other (must be some sort of informal industry standard).

[azzeps]

We really like the IKEA set we bought for our daughter. It's just enough for her. You can buy extra tracks and cars and tunnels and such. She likes it!

[just_lily]

We have Ikea as well. I bought some from the store, and then found a huge bag of tracks and trains at a consignment shop. Love them!

[corrieoseal]

Thank you for your input! Are the Ikea trains "safe"? I know that some of the Thomas ones have been found to have lead. Just making certain that Ikea stuff is relatively scandal free in terms of safety. They sound like a perfect starter set. Later on maybe we'll add-on with a few Plan Toy structures if she gets into them.

[Code Name Mama]

Our son doesn't watch TV, but he *loves* Thomas trains. I fought against them for awhile b/c I didn't want him to have a reason to get TV obsessed, but finally relented when my mom found a bunch on clearance. They are sturdy and ds loves their names. They get the most play by far at our house.

Melissa and Doug trains are horrible. We had some and returned them because they were so cheaply made.

We've also had Plan Toys trains - they're ok, but smaller and don't see a lot of play.

We bought some of the Toys r Us brand tracks and they had a few trains in them. Again, cheap, but sturdier than M&D.

[balancedmama]

I like our plan toys road & rail set - it's great for trains and cars too.

[AndrewsMother]

I found a $500 Thomas set for $13 at Goodwill. Maybe $50 worth of tracks are missing. I was anti Thomas, but DS has never seen the show, so my ideals went out the window.

Thomas is easy to find on Craigslist and Freecycle.