Postby Lionheart » Tue May 01, 2012 11:12 am
Hello,
Pretty much all the wooden train sets now are compatible (off the top of my head this includes Thomas, Brio, BigJigs, Tesco, Ikea and so on)
My 2.2 year old has a mixture of Thomas, Brio, Bigjigs and Tesco pieces and they all work together. The only things that don't work so well are the Brio tunnel and bridge he has from my childhood (which my Mum kept lovingly for me!) - they are too low/narrow to fit the modern Thomas/Brio trains and will only fit my old little Brio trains. You shouldn't have this problem though!
With regards to the trains themselves, my son adores Thomas and he does have some of the characters. We bought them second hand from Ebay and they fit on the Bigjigs and Tesco tracks. However, he also has some non-Thomas trains and he loves these too.
To be honest, Thomas and Brio sets, while lovely, are VERY expensive if you have to buy them full price. If you can't find one in a sale, I'd recommend the cheaper Bigjigs or even supermarket sets for the track and odd 'feature' (like a bridge). The quality of the wood isn't quite as good as Brio or Thomas - the individual track pieces feel lighter - but they are still perfectly good and stand up to my toddler very well. Then if you have an extra few pounds, you could always get an extra feature or train. My son adores a Brio steam engine (it cost around £5) and it has little wheel pistons/connecting rods that move as the wheels go round. That one was the biggest hit, I think!
