Help! Wooden train sets comparison.

[aldermother]

So I'd like to take advantage of Cyber Monday deals. I am looking for wooden train sets for my littlest one. Melissa and Doug, Brio, and the Thomas Learning Curve brands all seem popular. But there is also a very inexpensive brand called Maxim. I wonder if the quality is as good as the others? Anyone have experience with that brand? Or which do experienced train lover's mamas recommend?

[kimb96]

We have the melissa and doug trainset with a couple of thomas add ons. Not a single broken piece in nearly 7 years. IMO, you get what you pay for. I would not buy a cheapy set if you expect it to last a long time.

[sh0rtchica]

We got one of the cheaper sets last Christmas (can't remember which one) and it's held up very well. Only one, slightly fragile piece broke, and it was easy to fix with some wood glue. We bought Thomas trains to go with it, and were gifted a few more expensive smaller sets. Can't tell the difference.

[Rainfall]

I just bought a Maxim train set and table on BF and came home to read the reviews. I was really surprised to see all of the positive reviews and comments, lol. The biggest complaint about the set I got was that the picture on the table top didn't match up with the train track set (like there was no way to configure the tracks to NOT go over the water, or that there was a crossroad track that didn't line up with the painted road). I'm sure my kids won't care about that, so I'll likely keep the set I got (unless there's a much better deal on CM for a larger set). I plan to buy other brand trains and track pieces to go with it over time. Maxim is compatible with all of the major ones, and the reviews confirmed it.

[stevensmom]

I LOVE brio (we still have brio tracks from when my hubby was ds's age so at least 25 years old).

the M&D are a close second

[Quickshep19]

My mom bought the Maxim mini train table for my kids for Christmas this year. Guess we will find out after the Holidays. I hope it is a nice one. It has pretty good reviews.

Jodie ~ wife & mama

[aldermother]

Thanks everybody. I bought the basic figure 8 M&D off amazon. I think I will add the maxim set as my son gets older and we need more tracks since they are interchangeable!

[armywife2002]

i think pretty much all the wooden train pieces are compatable. we have some thomas, some imaginarium (toys r us brand) and a whole bunch im not sure of because i bought a huge lot off of ebay when ds got his train table a few years ago. theyre all good, and i dont know what is what anymore

[emmehkay]

We have Ikea, Maxim, Brio, Thomas, and M&D. Thomas is my Dh's favorite (because of the design). Ikea has plastic end pieces that could be chewed off, but have held up well to my kids' abuse. Ikea is not double-sided on the straight-aways. Our Maxim are all specialty pieces, so I don't know about those. But the non-double sidedness of the straightaways are really our only complaint - and it's not even that big of one to begin with. They all work really well together and are all of good quality. Although for heirloom pieces (you want your grandkids to play with them too and they will get heavy use), I would go with Thomas or M&D.

[OneFishTwoFish]

Thanks for posting this! We just bought a Nilo table for the boys for Christmas and have asked that the family get them a wooden train set. The big Brio set is mucho bucks, but we do want it to last a while as our 16 month old is JUST getting into the train love and our 4 year old has been obsessed since then!