Help! Wooden train sets comparison.

[danner]

Originally Posted by 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!

We love our Nilo table! I've been waiting for Nilo to come out with the hammer & nails set that fit the peg holes - they say February now. I know William will go crazy for it.

We have mostly Brio, with some Nuchi and the Thomas Cookie factory (mostly plastic) thrown in. The cookie factory really captures my daughter's imagination with its little egg and butter cargo.

[Alaga]

Great thread! I'm thinking about getting the M&D set for DD for Xmas and was wondering if it was any good. Fingers crossed for a great deal tomorrow!!

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[Mom2Connor]

I haven't heard of that brand in particular. But we are VERY happy with our toys r us Imaginarium brand table and set. We got the full size train table and set on sale and with a TRU coupon for about $125 a few months ago for DS's birthday.

He plays with it for hours a day if you add up all the playtime from morning, afternoon, and evening. He LOVES it. He could suddenly stop playing with it today, and I'd feel like we got our moneys worth.

[EmsMom]

We have mostly Thomas stuff with some M&D as well as Imaginarium. We've had 1 piece break over the years. There is some amazing deals on Ebay for train lots (track and trains). That's how most of our collection has been built.

[MommyZ of 2]

Originally Posted by 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!

I second the Nilo table! We love it! Those little peg holes can hold the Nilo Jax, too, and make the train tracks extend over the edge of the table which my kids love. We also bought the Theasel to go with it (combo easel, puppet theater, felt board and marker board that's also magnetic) that gets a lot of use. As far as trains and track, we have Thomas, Brio, M&D, Imaginarium, Circo, ERTL Hometown Roadway and Ikea. There's really no preference that I can tell with the kids. They really like the ERTL realistic buildings like the McDonalds and Texaco station, but they are so hard to come by these days.

[mkrisel]

We have mostly Ikea with a few Melissa and Doug pieces. Oddly enough, the one piece that doesn't fit well with any others is a Melissa and Doug piece! I would have expected it to be an Ikea piece. Dd is rough with the train cars-she takes them everywhere and they are constantly put into other things. The Ikea cars have not chipped at all. The Melissa and Doug cars are chipping on the corners I did buy the Melissa and Doug cars used, but they didn't have any chipping when I bought them. So I guess I would say that we are far happier with the quality of the Ikea pieces. But they are not near as intricate.

[OneFishTwoFish]

Originally Posted by danner We love our Nilo table! I've been waiting for Nilo to come out with the hammer & nails set that fit the peg holes - they say February now. I know William will go crazy for it. We have mostly Brio, with some Nuchi and the Thomas Cookie factory (mostly plastic) thrown in. The cookie factory really captures my daughter's imagination with its little egg and butter cargo.

Originally Posted by MommyZ of 2 I second the Nilo table! We love it! Those little peg holes can hold the Nilo Jax, too, and make the train tracks extend over the edge of the table which my kids love. We also bought the Theasel to go with it (combo easel, puppet theater, felt board and marker board that's also magnetic) that gets a lot of use. As far as trains and track, we have Thomas, Brio, M&D, Imaginarium, Circo, ERTL Hometown Roadway and Ikea. There's really no preference that I can tell with the kids. They really like the ERTL realistic buildings like the McDonalds and Texaco station, but they are so hard to come by these days.

YAY! Thanks for the opinions ladies! I wasn't prepared to spend so much on a table, but DH loved it compared to other tables and he liked the idea of supporting a small business in the process.

Saw the theasel online, but they're sold out for now! Boo!