Customer Reviews

Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway - Figure 8 Set Expansion Pack

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased this expansion set, along with the Thomas and Friends Water Towr Figure 8 Set, for my 2 year old this past Christmas. The expansion set was an afterthought, prompted in no small part by the manufacturer's promotion running at the time (50% off this set with the purchase of a Figure 8 set).

With the conclusion of many initial hours of intense playtesting (an ongoing process, with no termination in sight), my son agrees that this is an essential choice for any but the most basic (read: boring) wooden railroad layout. This expansion pack comes with switch tracks, and allows little train engineers (and their dads) to reverse directions or explore different parts of the railway. In retrospect, I think that I would have been dissatisfied had I not purchased this set to complement the basic Figure 8 layout, promotional price or not.

As far as the quality, the Learning Curve wooden track is made from hardwood, and is more substantial than many other brands of compatible track (i.e. Maxim, First Learning, etc.). This is a consideration when your child insists on taking the track apart by him/herself to put away. We have already broken a couple of pieces of generic track this way, since the male end of the connectors is a bit weaker than the rest of the track.

Overall, we are quite satisfied with this set, and look forward to many more hours of enjoyment.

Most Thomas sets are constructed in such a way that require you to buy additional dual ended pieces in order to be able to connect them to other sets and this expansion set was the only thing I found that included a couple of these extra linking pieces. Not only does my 3 year old son have endless hours of fun putting the tracks together, but my husband and I also really enjoy putting them together in a variety of ways. These tracks act like a puzzle that grows with your child as he develops. Our son started learning to connect them end to end, then he began connecting them in circles and ovals, and he is beginning to experiment with layering in figure eights and using bridges. I highly recommend this set to anyone who wishes to make Thomas track building easier while enhancing their child's ability to learn through building.

My three year old son received the Water Tower set plus the Expansion Pack for his birthday. He also has a sizeable collection of the trains themselves, as they have been rewards for potty training. He has found at least one hour of enjoyment out of them every day for the past three months. Every night comes 30 minutes of dedicated train and track time, more if time permits. Then, he makes sure all of his trains are with him in bed so he can play school with them or throw parties for them or whatever for at least another 30 minutes.

The inclusion of the expansion pack allows us to create a wide variety of layouts to retain interest. The combination has a healthy number of switches that allow for interesting loops and even loops within loops. We also have the roundhouse, which helps.

The personalities of the Thomas character set (Henry, Gordon, etc etc) and the associated storylines provide a rich world for the little guy to step into. The combination of these two products helps him realize it.

I hope that helps!

My grandson was obsessed with Thomas for a full three years, and he got just about every Thomas Train and accessory available. These are wonderful toys, well-made and he played with them for hours. However, when the train phase is over, it is over. You don't need to pay the rather high prices for new Thomas stuff - there must be another child who has just outgrown his and you can get it used. It will still be in terrific condtion and just as much fun to play with.

We got this for our 20 month old son when his train collection got to big for his figure of 8 track set and when you showed an interest in putting track together by himself. The item came with all the pieces in the photo description. This set goes well with a standard figure 8 track set (or bigger) and there is manual inside that has track set up suggestions for combinations of certain track sets. I would not recommend getting this set unless you have other track sets. It is not good as a stand alone set, but as I mentioned it is great to expand even a simple figure 8 track set.

Can you have too much wooden track? I think so -- having a limited amount of track forces the designer to plan carefully and really think about the efficient use of resources. But if you have any vertical elements (risers, bridges, etc.) you may need more track to account for all the ramps and ascending/descending elements.

I like this expansion pack because of the switches. The T-switch makes it much easier to set up reverse-direction opportunities, and any switch is handy for creating sidings and places to tie in set pieces like the water tower, the engine shed, etc., as well as new opportunities for routing.

My child (3 1/2 years) has started using the switches quite a bit since we got this expansion pack, and will usually employ them to tie in other sidings and elements. As his ability to design layouts grows, the expansion packs provide material with which to work.

The pieces are very sturdy and fit together well, too!

Two of these items were purchased for my grandsons, three and two years old. The cutting of the pattern was not accurate on one of the switches. The two pieces needed to be forced together. My grandsons were unable to do this independently. Once together the two pieces were difficult to interchange into a different pattern. The boys still enjoyed adding it to their existing train system.

I wish the manufacturers would automatically add more junctions for kid's train tables. This set is a good start. Less long track, more short track. Regardless of your first track purchase, this must be your second.

With this set you are able to send the train out of the room and back again- I've been using that to teach our two year old how trains really work and what they actually do- transport things. I put a bit of food or something in one of the cars and send it along to where my boy is waiting... he had no interest in the track really till we got this set.

I purchased this set to allow my son more options when creating his railway lines for all his Thomas trains. Not only is the wooden track nice and durable (my little one is 2 and can put a hurting on some toys - as most little boys can), but the reverse side of the straight parts is designed to use as roadway. We don't really need the roadway right now, but it's nice to have as his interest in cars and trucks is increasing. This is a great expansion set, and because we have so much curved and straight track we're thinking about buying another one of these expansion sets. I would definitely recommend this.