Customer Reviews

Thomas and Friends Train Play Set - Thomas Big Loader

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

My 3yr old son received this toy as a present a year ago and gets very frustrated by it. My kids, and their friends are attracted to it but once out of the box it is abandoned. It needs an adult/older child to put it together and once together it offers very limited hands-on play. It has little levers which you push to make the train change direction but apart from that they get to watch the train go around the track. We are big fans of the Thomas trains and love the way the kids can use their imagination to construct different layouts. This track offers no flexibility.

The trains have to be set in certain positions so they can complete the circuit, our experience has been that the kids want to touch the trains and usually put the whole sequence out of synch. My 6 yr old can put it together but then has no interest in it.

My advice is save your money and buy another piece of track.

Both of my boys LOVE Thomas (they're 3 & 5). My 3 yr old (then 2) received this last Christmas. It was a nightmare to put together with the directions - took forever. We were very disappointed to find that only one engine worked at a time and it's not interactive AT ALL. All you can do is sit there and watch it. Dollars would be better spent on the wooden railway which allows children to follow their imaginations anywhere. This is great for kids who just like to sit and watch (yeah, right!) but if your kids actually like to play with it? Avoid - go wooden!

This toy must be what happens when mechanical engineers decide to stay home with their kids. Our 3-year-old son is crazy about Thomas, and we saw this toy on display at a toy store and bought it. At first, we thought it would provide very little opportunity for hands-on play, but we were pleasantly surprised. Both our son and his 5-year-old sister love trying different variations of pressing the levers and putting the trains in the wrong order to see what happens. They even play with it cooperatively by deciding who is responsible for which lever. I pointed out the different features on the track that cause the motor to reverse or slow down, and started asking them to predict what would happen in certain instances.

I wonder if this toy has been reengineered since some of the other reviewers bought it, since we didn't seem to have most of the problems I've read about (trains falling off, track falling apart, etc). It is true that the instructions are worthless, as they are with most toys (ever try to assemble a swing set?), so toss them and look at the picture on the box instead. There are pictures printed on the track itself that indicate which train topper to put where. As for having to be a "magician" to get the thing started, try starting the motor off the track and with no train on top, then set the pins into the groove and let it go - it will pick up a train when it gets there. Also, don't get too hung up on having it work "right" - my kids delight in seeing it do something unpredictable.

This toy can be a great lesson in cause and effect and problem solving. Parents may have to initiate this aspect. I would recommend studying this toy from an adult perspective first, then coming up with some age-appropriate leading questions for your kids (after they get bored just watching it, that is). For older kids, have them figure out how it works.

My 4 year old son received this for his birthday. It was the first thing he wanted open. What a total piece of junk!
The track DOES NOT stay together. AND it is a very tight fit where the track passes other track. The directions are the WORST
I have ever seen. All they show is how the track goes together (and it is VERY incomplete) and it does not show how anything else is suppose to work.

You get a set of wheels with a battery inside of them and three interchangable train bodies. You set these bodies (THEY DO NOT SNAP ON THEY JUST REST ON THE BATTERY COMPARTMENT - AND ***FALL OFF **** ALL THE TIME!!!!!)

You set the extra bodies on a specially made part of the track
and the battery compartment switches bodies automatically to do different jobs.

IT NEVER WORKED. And the directions never explained this part, we deduced this. So good luck there...

READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISSAPOINT YOUR CHILD. You have to be a magician to turn the train on and get it on the train at the same time. The bodies do not snap on the wheel section they just rest there - in order to facilitate the switch mentioned above. (And they fall off very easily) then once the body is resting on the wheels, you have to pull open little metal bars, on the BOTTOM of the wheel base (that rest in the track grooves) AND THEN turn it on
These little bars swing very freely and are slippery. The kids got VERY frustrated.

No one could do it. If you are use to Thomas quality you will NOT find it here.

Also there are little buttons on the track they (we think, are for changing direction - we are not sure. They never worked. Also, We were too busy trying to get the bodies to stay on the train).

I do not know what the happy people got in these reviews but it surely cannot be what we got. We, like another reviewer, are sending this huge dissapointment to the consignment store (although I will think this over, I do not want to dissapoint another kid).

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.

My three-year-old loves Thomas and this set was one of two that he got for Christmas last year. The Big Loader set quickly became his favorite because he was fascinated by watching it move the little balls around. The other set he got (Tomica's Thomas Medium Set) was relegated to the toy bin. However, problems began shortly thereafter. Having tired of just watching the balls go around, my son started playing with different components of the system. This was fun at first, but he soon became frustrated with the whole thing since it is very sensitive and a little tampering upsets the entire cycle. He liked playing with the different covers (although, by themselves, they have no wheels) and also liked putting the motorized bottom part on and running it around on the floor. The Thomas cover became the first casualty, as the tender broke off. Terence's shovel came off and became lost soon thereafter. And it is impossible to keep track of all those balls. Now when my three-year-old wants to play with the toy, he is frustrated. Without every part, it just does not work. Not to mention that even when we did our best to find and fix all the pieces, it still takes a parent to put it together for him.

Needless to say, the Tomica World Thomas Medium Set is now his favorite. The Thomas can played with on the floor or with the track and has not broken even after being thrown across the room. The tracks are interchangeable and he can set them up by himself in whatever order he likes. And even if one part of the track is missing, it still works.

Bottom line? Unless you are planning to set this toy up where the child is not going to touch it (or is much older), don't waste your money. If you want a motorized set, try one of the Tomica World sets. They are very durable, flexible, and the kids love being able to do it themselves.

I bought this product for my three year old for christmas. When we put it together the train cars fell off of tracks, the loader would try to pick up the marbles and fall off the track. This not a very durable toy. Within one hour of playing with it my son broke it. I strongly recommend that you not purchase this item.

My 4 yr old received this as a birthday present and it was the first thing he wanted to open.

What a total piece of JUNK.

- The directions are the WORST I have ever seen. Incomplete, wrong and unclear.

- The track DOES NOT stay together. It falls apart even while you are putting it together. And in places where the track passes other track it is too tight.

- There are NOT 3 trains in this set-up. There is one wheel/battery base that the 3 tops can REST ON. And watch your train go around the track and top continually FALL OFF.

- There is a section of the track that you rest the 2 unused tops on and the base comes by and switches tops automatically. It never worked. The wheel base either got hung up or the top kept falling off. And it is not very clear in the instructions as to how this works.

- Now here was the fun part. Trying to get the train on the track. You have to be a magician. You have to rest a top on the trains wheel base, pull down little metal, slippery, swinging bars on the BOTTOM of the base and stick them into the track goove AND turn the train on at the same time. You CANNOT turn the train on once it is resting in the grooved track, you fingers will not fit. Kids and adults were ready to throw this thing out the window.

- There are little white buttons placed around the track. They are supposed to change the direction of the oncoming train. We didn't have to push the buttons the train continually got stuck going back and forth on it's own.

- Finally, there is no way to get the million pieces back into the box for storage. And you can figure on loosing all of the 12 little balls (how generous of TOMY) on the first day.

I do not know what the happy customer received but it couldn't have been the same thing we did.
We are throwing it in the trash. I considered sending it to a consignment store but I thought that would be too mean to knowingly do this another child.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY.....there are bettter toys without even trying.

The set is great but the motorized chassis which interchanges the engines broke after only about a month of use and as the toy was a gift, I have been unable to get a replacement so the toy is useless.

Whoever created this is a genius. One AA battery runs three separate trains who each methodically perform a series of inter-related tasks.
My two year old boy got this for Christmas and he just stared with wide eyes as Thomas, Percy and Terrence repeatedly performed their chores. After several weeks of watching, he began performing the tasks manually without the battery in the engine. He guides each train by hand thru their tasks. It's been great for his hand-eye coordination and his imagination. The loader only drops 4 balls at a time, so we took the extra 8 and put them away. It can be a pain to keep track of them, but he is very good at keeping the loader loaded if Thomas misses one. My son has progressed to where he fixes the train if it gets stuck or slips out of the groove. He occasionally takes the track apart, but c'mon he's two-year old boy!!
Even though the trains are a bit temperamental, I highly recommend this toy.
Added 5/17 - I've read a lot of reviews where the parents have been unable to figure out how this works, got frustrated and returned it. That's just sad. This toy is not that complicated, and it's lots of fun for kids to use. Have some patience and it'll be worth the effort.

My 4 yr. old son got this for Christmas after playing with it at a friend's house, and falling in love with it. He is a "huge" Thomas fan, and plays with the wooden Thomas set all the time. This set teaches cause and effect, as Thomas and Percy carry and dump the "coal" for Terrance to scoop up. It is fascinating and mesmerizing to watch as the engines scoot around the track. My son also has fun playing with the pieces on the floor without the motor and track.