( 
)With the holiday season fast approaching, many children who are fans of Thomas the Tank Engine will be putting their requests in to Santa for a new train set, or new additions to their existing train sets. For many parents, grandparents or other gift-givers, the choices can be daunting. Most do not realize that there are different Thomas train sets, and that they are not compatible with each other. This guide will try to make the buying process simpler for consumers, and result in the right product purchased for the child, making him or her happy this Christmas, and avoiding having to return or exchange item(s) after December 25th. We will only deal with the "toy" type of train sets in this guide, and not go into the electric train line. We'll save that for a different guide.
Three Types of Train Sets
First, let's start out by listing the three distinct types of Thomas & Friends train sets:
Thomas Wooden Railway
The Thomas Wooden Railway is celebrating it's 15th year of wooden trains for Thomas the Tank Engine. The train sets are geared for those 2 years of age and over and are very durable in the hands of young children. They are compatible with other wooden railway products made by other companies, such as Brio, and are easy to find in toy stores, "big box" stores, and of course, online. The selection of characters and destinations is immense, with new characters released soon after they have been introduced in stories. Each engine and car couples together with magnets at each end, and run on wooden tracks. All Thomas Wooden Railway products are packaged with the logo displayed at the top of this paragraph.
There are of course drawbacks to the wooden trains. The biggest one was the lead paint scare in 2007, where certain pieces were painted using a lead based paint and were recalled. If you are purchasing them, be sure they are from a reputable source. Another drawback is as the children grow older, and want something more realistic that moves on its own power, they may become bored with it. But, that's why they have Trackmaster, which we'll learn about later.
Take Along Thomas
The second type of train set is Take Along Thomas. This is very similar to the wooden line, and get confused a lot. Take Along Thomas is the die-cast metal line of trains. Like the wooden trains, they couple together via magnets, and run on track that is not compatible with the wooden trains. All trains and destinations are packaged with the Take Along Thomas logo pictured above.
The big drawback to this train set is that it is probably the least popular of the three, and finding products for it is generally harder than for the other two.
Trackmaster Railway System
While the name may be newer than the first two, the product isn't. Trackmaster used to be the TOMY Motorized Road & Rail System, a battery-powered motorized system which is made of plastic and runs on plastic tracks. In 2007, TOMY lost the license to produce the trains, and they were subsequently made by HIT Toy Company and rebranded as Trackmaster.
The only real difference between the old TOMY trains and the Trackmaster system is the track. TOMY track was blue, and the Trackmaster track is brown. The blue track can still be used with the newer track through the use of adapters. Two adapters come packaged in each new Trackmaster set, or with the Track Expansion Set. The engines and cars are indentical, and can work on the old or new track.
As mentioned, Trackmaster sets are battery-powered, and unlike the first two, have hook-and-loop type couplers rather than magnets. The recommended age is 3 and over, one of the big reasons probably being the couplers, as they may snap in the hands of a smaller child.
The largest drawback to this system has probably been the slow rollout of new characters, at least compared to the wooden trains.
We hope that you have found this guide helpful.
If you would like to find out about more Thomas & Friends products, please check out our eBay store, The Ultimate Thomas Store
Three Types of Train Sets
First, let's start out by listing the three distinct types of Thomas & Friends train sets:
- Thomas Wooden Railway
- Take Along Thomas
- Thomas Trackmaster Railway
Thomas Wooden Railway
The Thomas Wooden Railway is celebrating it's 15th year of wooden trains for Thomas the Tank Engine. The train sets are geared for those 2 years of age and over and are very durable in the hands of young children. They are compatible with other wooden railway products made by other companies, such as Brio, and are easy to find in toy stores, "big box" stores, and of course, online. The selection of characters and destinations is immense, with new characters released soon after they have been introduced in stories. Each engine and car couples together with magnets at each end, and run on wooden tracks. All Thomas Wooden Railway products are packaged with the logo displayed at the top of this paragraph.
There are of course drawbacks to the wooden trains. The biggest one was the lead paint scare in 2007, where certain pieces were painted using a lead based paint and were recalled. If you are purchasing them, be sure they are from a reputable source. Another drawback is as the children grow older, and want something more realistic that moves on its own power, they may become bored with it. But, that's why they have Trackmaster, which we'll learn about later.
Take Along Thomas
The second type of train set is Take Along Thomas. This is very similar to the wooden line, and get confused a lot. Take Along Thomas is the die-cast metal line of trains. Like the wooden trains, they couple together via magnets, and run on track that is not compatible with the wooden trains. All trains and destinations are packaged with the Take Along Thomas logo pictured above.
The big drawback to this train set is that it is probably the least popular of the three, and finding products for it is generally harder than for the other two.
Trackmaster Railway System
While the name may be newer than the first two, the product isn't. Trackmaster used to be the TOMY Motorized Road & Rail System, a battery-powered motorized system which is made of plastic and runs on plastic tracks. In 2007, TOMY lost the license to produce the trains, and they were subsequently made by HIT Toy Company and rebranded as Trackmaster.
The only real difference between the old TOMY trains and the Trackmaster system is the track. TOMY track was blue, and the Trackmaster track is brown. The blue track can still be used with the newer track through the use of adapters. Two adapters come packaged in each new Trackmaster set, or with the Track Expansion Set. The engines and cars are indentical, and can work on the old or new track.
As mentioned, Trackmaster sets are battery-powered, and unlike the first two, have hook-and-loop type couplers rather than magnets. The recommended age is 3 and over, one of the big reasons probably being the couplers, as they may snap in the hands of a smaller child.
The largest drawback to this system has probably been the slow rollout of new characters, at least compared to the wooden trains.
We hope that you have found this guide helpful.
If you would like to find out about more Thomas & Friends products, please check out our eBay store, The Ultimate Thomas Store
Guide created: 08/19/08 (updated 11/23/09)
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