Thomas the Tank Engine

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 09:57 AM

My 20 month old son is geeked on this stuff. Beats the **** outta Barney or the Wiggles

Just unpacked the NILO table and will have a good run setup for the weekend. Anyone come up with a good temp attach system for the tracks?

*If you don't have children, pretend you never read any of this

MFAFF · 08-19-2005, 10:07 AM

Just trash the set up every time......well let your 20mth old do that bit...

Its part of the fun...

Believe me... my son has had his set for a couple of years now and loves to make and remake and reremake the circuit... pushing the trains aorund is only about 15% of the fun.....

osidak · 08-19-2005, 10:11 AM

I think my son has something like 30+ trains and a huge train setup. Make simple tracks intially and as he gets old progress with the track designs until he starts building his own.

We used hot glue once wasn't worth the effort as they can still trash the track and then you have the clean up of cold hot glue.

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 10:13 AM

Exactly, He's so young that he tends to destroy without intention

Not to mention I have another boy due in 6 weeks so it'll see lots of rough use. I was talking temporary, like velcro but not so mushy (if that makes sense) I have seen industrial velcro that was "hard" nibblets on both sides instead of one having tufted loops. That would allow a good solid connection while remaining adjustable.

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by osidak
I think my son has something like 30+ trains and a huge train setup. Make simple tracks intially and as he gets old progress with the track designs until he starts building his own.

We used hot glue once wasn't worth the effort as they can still trash the track and then you have the clean up of cold hot glue.

I also have an '03 Hayden

arcsine · 08-19-2005, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lendaddy
My 20 month old son is geeked on this stuff.

My daughter was too and had a phase where all the family were renamed from characters on the show. I was "Gordon", wife was "Percy", daughter was "Thomas" (of course) an on and on. Couldn't refer to anyone by their real name without being corrected.

DaveE · 08-19-2005, 10:24 AM

Jeez Len, I always figured you were older than me. My GRANDSONS play with the stuff all the time. We just set it up and tear it down, build different layouts every day.

Soterik · Soterik's Garage

There's some blue "silly putty" type stuff out there that we use for putting up artwork etc, and it peels off easily without hurting paint.

We used that for "gluing down" the trees, rail crossing stuff, the "people" etc. I suppose you could use that for some key pieces of the track that you don't want to have "move", like the bridge ramps.

Play with them while you can...they outgrow it before you know it.

By the way, leave yourself enough room to crawl around the thing (on hands and knees), they can stand....you can't....screws up your back (trust me...).

Do you have the video tapes? They are GREAT....Voices by George Carlin, Alec Baldwin, and Ringo Starr (from my memory).

We also added in the harbor tug toys...can't remember the name though...they have video's as well

Eric

Eric

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DaveE
Jeez Len, I always figured you were older than me. My GRANDSONS play with the stuff all the time. We just set it up and tear it down, build different layouts every day.

There is a crotchety old bastard inside me I assure you

DaveE · 08-19-2005, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lendaddy
There is a crotchety old bastard inside me I assure you

911boost · 911boost's Garage

What surprises me is how dang expensive that stuff it, it must be hand carved by master craftsman out of some unobtainable wood!

My daughter likes it and my god son is in love with the stuff!

Bill

lendaddy · 08-19-2005, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BSiple
What surprises me is how dang expensive that stuff it, it must be hand carved by master craftsman out of some unobtainable wood!

My daughter likes it and my god son is in love with the stuff!

Bill

Ebay! And buy off brand Brio track it is identicle and cheaper....much cheaper.

Drago · Drago's Garage

My two boys (third on the way) LOVE the stuff. I don't think there is a train made that they don't have. They even have "collectables"...trains that have since gone out of production.

Don't try to hold the track down...it's going to be destroyed eventually.

Apparently train crashes are a laughing matter when your 3.

osidak · 08-19-2005, 12:30 PM

I thought of a huge velcro matt and then individual pieces on the track but most track is reversible so that doesn't really work - My son is just getting to the point where he really wants to build his own track to be able to move stuff easily is nice.

Friends of ours used small tack nails on the sides of the track to keep it in place and that failed horribly.

Like I said build some simple tracks and realize that is part of the fun in the whole game. My son and I play trains every night. We took him to "Day out with Thomas" in June and he still takes about it.

It is expensive but he really enjoys it and it isn't some mind rotting toy that gets chucked after a week or a day so I am all for it.

cantdrv55 · 08-19-2005, 01:17 PM

Thomas the Train is still around? My son loved all that stuff. He had the light switch, comforter, blankets, pillow cases, videos and of course the toys. That was 13 years ago. Should've kept all that stuff to sell on EBay.

Drago · Drago's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by osidak
We took him to "Day out with Thomas" in June and he still talkes about it.

We did the same...fortunately, after that the wife and I dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa's and flew to Maui for 10 days. I'm almost fully recovered.

Jims5543 · 08-19-2005, 05:07 PM

My 2 year old is into Matchbox cars. No kidding he loves them. The other night he wanted them to go to sleep with him.

My wife thinks its cute. She bought him a car wash for them and he plays with it all the time.

campbellcj · 08-19-2005, 08:20 PM

Likewise; our son has enough Thomas stuff to build elaborate layouts (like 200sf) but I wouldn't dream of pinning it down as the fun is constantly changing the setup.

LeeH · 08-19-2005, 09:05 PM

We used one dab of silicone sealant for each piece of track. It's never come off, but should be removable. I was in Costco yesterday and they had a really nice set with table for $129.

Dave L · 08-20-2005, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Drago
We did the same...fortunately, after that the wife and I dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa's and flew to Maui for 10 days. I'm almost fully recovered.

My parents took my son for a week with the final day as the "day out with Thomas" I was told when he saw the train he was in absolute awe.