Editorial Review

A single motorized engine sets this busy Thomas the Tank Engineconstruction site in motion. Switch it on and watch as Thomas picks up aload of plastic rocks, rides up the elevator, and drops the rocks down aspiraling chute. Cranky the Crane then lifts the rocks and sends themdown another chute. From here Lorry the Loader scoops them into aholding bin, and the whole sequence begins over again. As long as thevehicles are positioned correctly on the track, the sequence runsremarkably smoothly, and it is truly fascinating to watch. This is not ahands-on toy, however. Once children switch on the engine, there islittle else for them to do. The sequence cannot be altered, forinstance, nor can the track be rearranged in any other configuration.Adult assembly is required, and the manufacturer includes a cautioningstatement about the risk of hair entanglement in the motorized engine.--Elisabeth Fredrickson ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Ugh!!!
We bought this for our 3 year old. After spending close to an hour setting up, he couldn't even play with it! It does everything by itself. So, Cranky was taken off to play with.. very disappointed! But Dad enjoys watching the monotony of the train set (around, and around)

A frustrating disappointment
I assembled two Big Big loaders. Neither of them would complete one cycle of operation. The parts would not align properly, causing jams and not permiting the engine to reverse when it was supposed to at the top of the spiral tower. The crane would not pick up the
tray of little balls. The manufacturer did not return two e-mails.

This toy would only frustrate a small child, not to mention frustrating the adult who must assemble it.

Both Big Big loaders have been returned.

Big Big Loader is a Big Big Pain
This "toy" is not a toy. It's completely automated and not interactive for my 3 yr old and my 8 yr old boys. They were bored after 2 minutes. The loader kept getting jammed on the ramp....and yes, even after..re-assembling it correctly..again, after changing the little aggrevating tires, making sure it was on a flat surface, etc., etc. My 3 year old tried to play with it, only to have the crane fall over again and again. He had more fun taking the engine and letting it ride on the kitchen floor. Don't waste your money on this, folks, unless you like collecting Thomas stuff and having it set around to just look at.

Repetitious, loud and frustrating
My 2 1/2 yr old got this as a gift since he loves anything train (especially Thomas and friends) and it's been quite disappointing. If you are thinking of getting this for your own child, don't! If you are getting it as a gift, don't, unless you don't like the child's parents! This is a LOUD toy. And repetitious. The toy does everything by itself, after an adult has spent upward of 1/2 hour assembling it, and cannot be reconfigured into any other shape. My son still likes playing with it but that also includes taking the whole thing apart, letting the train run somewhere, anywhere and losing the balls. After the initial "cute" this toy just becomes very frustrating and definitely not worth the money.
Get another Thomas train with wooden tracks for a lot more fun and educational value.

Fun but Frustrating
My 3rd year old received this as a gift -- He loved the action, but was not content to just watch, wanted to move the chassis vehicle often. Unless you position the vehicle correctly, it will not operate.... Also, my little engineer loved to disassemble the entire track... A nightmare for mom to reassemble (make a copy of the assembly instructions and keep them somewhere handy.) Also! the chassis truck 'runs' whether on the track or not; hence the instructions warning about not getting it close to hair, etc.... I once found ours running in his closet, caught on carpet and making an oily mess.....The toy is fun, but frustrating. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A cute little car for your Thomas Tank collection
This is a cute little car and is a nice addition to the Thomas Tank wooden train set. If your child's name is Caroline, it's a must! The name is imprinted on the side of the car in small white letters. She is also featured in the video "Cranky Bugs and Other Thomas Stories" in the story about Lady Hatt's Birthday. Caroline is a calm dignified car that does not enjoy going too fast along the Island of Sodor's country lanes. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Crissy's Review
I like this set. It has a cute appearance, and gives the child a two piece train that they can take apart and snap together again. Watch the barrels if you have small children. They can be easily put in the mouth (My son proved that). ... Read more

Reviews (4)

My Boys both Love this Toy!!
My oldest son got this toy for his first birthday a year and a half ago, and it's been a favorite at our house ever since. Now both he and my 11 month old love to play with this together. My older son will push the train and then the baby will go and chase after it. Its very sturdy and still looks brand new. I would recommend this toy very highly. Well worth the price.

Great and safe toy for baby!!!
My son received this toy as a gift when he was 7 months old and he loves it. He plops his face into it and makes raspberries - he smacks the wheels with his hands and watches them turn. He is now 8 1/2 months and can pull himself up to stand but is still wobbly and he can fall onto this toy without hurting himself. He isn't old enough to use it as a truck but he loves it just the same - I'm sure he will be playing with it for a few years!!

An Excellent Toy
My son received his Push & Go Thomas as a gift when he was about 15 months old. He, and the several children I watch, have played with it nearly everyday for the last year or so. All the kids love it, and from a parents standpoint it doesn't make much noise, doesn't need batteries, and is very durable. Also, it is easy for small children to operate. I would recommend this toy to anyone with a child between 1 and 4 years old.

This toy has been dearly loved, and still going...
My oldest son (now 6years old) got this for Christmas of 98. He played with it until he was about 5yrs old. Now he has handed it down to his little brother (15months old) and he loves it too. This toy is very durable. It's lasted all these years, and only has a few minor scratches. You push the little conductor down, and Thomas zooms along any flat surface. It's basic, toddler fun. It's not noisy, and doesn't require batteries, so that's a plus! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Only one in the box
Since I can't buy Thomas the Train through Amazon outside of the U.S., I'm forced to buy this toy locally. It cost an additional 70% over the amazon price, however it was worth it. The major disappointment came when I opened the box and found out that for the high price, I only received one unit. This was a disappointment since I already had a great track layout in mind which required two and the store only had one in stock. Of course it was my fault for not reading more carefully. In fact, the box labelled 2x the other piece and 1x for the T.

At the moment, we only have 2 Thomas engines which are both battery powered and we have a single Brio engine which is a light and sound toy. I don't typically like Brio trains since the Thomas Trains are of much higher quality. When running the Thomas the Train battery powered engines on this track, entering from the stem of the T, the trains would simply drive straight forward without turning. This means the train goes straight off the table. I would have imagined that they would have tested this.

Also, the turn is so sharp that the battery powered trains can hardly make it, even when pushing manually on the battery powered trains, they tend to slide out of the track.

So my son plays a lot with the Brio train on this track section instead. I'll have to go out and buy James without batteries today I think. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Wheels can pinch fingers
I bought the battery powered Lady train for my toddler son. He just loves it. Then I bought Bertie at a store closing sale thinking it would be just as fun. However we found that the bottom of the bus falls low enough along the wheels that my son gets the skin of his fingers stuck when the wheels turn. So it pinches him. Ouch! Poor guy. It actually pinched me a couple times. We don't let him play with it. That's why I give this car only one star for fun. If this didn't happen it would be a 5 like our Lady car.

GET THE ORIGINAL BERTIE
I bought this for my 5 year old daughter for Christmas to use with the Mountain Overpass Set she got last Christmas. I thought that it would be neat for the bus to go around the roadway and set off the roadway sounds as she played with the trains. This is the first battery-powered vehicle/engine I've purchased so I opened it up to try it out. I found that Bertie didn't have the power to go up hills and didn't have the traction to come down without racing along and falling off of the side of the track. Bertie didn't work well going around the 3 1/2 inch curved track either; she kept veering off of the track and I had to put her back on. My advice is, if your track includes hills and small curves this purchase may only frustrate your child to the point of them not even using it. I am not going to pay twice as much for this Bertie when my daughter will have to guide her around the track manually anyway. I will be taking this back to the store and getting her the original Bertie. ... Read more

Editorial Review

From the island of Sobor, straight to your playroom, comesthis battery-powered version ofone of the most beloved trains in the world. Thomas the Tank Engineand two of his passenger-car friends, Annie and Clarabel, are designed to race around onthe Tomica World road and rail track system. The track sets, expansion sets, andaccessories are sold separately, but you can the trains on any smooth surface. Each car is3 inches long, making for a good portable toy. --S.J. Kurtz ... Read more

Reviews (4)

I need to add stars for durability!!!
Wow , this is one strong, fun toy. Both my kids have spent hours playing with it. We have had it a for more than a year now and it has been held to the ground, so it makes that horable clicking noce that battery power vechicles make when you stop them going, it has been thrown around by an adventurous one year old. AND it has spent the night in the swimming pool!!!! and 16months after buying it we are still using the same batteries, even after the pool incident :-)

Both my kids 4 1/2 and 18 months just can't get enough of this toy!!!

The BEST Thomas ever!
My daughter has loved Thomas and his friends since she was just a year old. Now three, she loves to add another train to Thomas each time he goes around the track. This has taught her that Thomas has limits, just like everyone else. She has learned about batteries and turns him off to save his energy. She also pushes trains around the track and races Thomas. This was by far, the BEST "Thomas" purchase we have ever made! All of these trains are very well made, sturdy and best of all - guaranteed.

This train is GREAT
I bought the medium set for my son about 10 months ago. It's become his favorite toy. Unfortunately, the THOMAS car has done a disappearing act and my 2.5 year old has not accepted the Learning Curve Thomas as a substitute. I've had to purchase the Thomas cars to replace the missing one. DEFINATELY recommended.

It's not Thomas as we know it!
Well its not bad and certainly simple to set up and play with. However, its got the wrong number of wheels! As any thomas fan knows the engine is an 0-6-0. The Hornby product is far better, and comes in both clockwork and electric version.... ... Read more

Editorial Review

The D199 is a train car with an attitude. He thinks he's invincible.What's it going to take to humble this big-talker? With eight working wheels, the handsome blue 4-inch wood engine loves the curves of the Clickety-Clack track. Based on the popular Thomas the Tank Engine series by Reverend W. Awdry and the PBS television show Shining Time Station, the wooden railway system is compatible with other magnetic train sets. You can reenact all the exciting stories in the series or make up new ones. Thomas fans won't want to miss out on any of these fun, well-built railway characters. --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Editorial Review

This is one way to keep playtime pure, simple, and inexpensive. Made from real, painted wood, this quarry train combo comes in three pieces: a two-man car with a seesaw handle; an empty, blue transport car; and an ochre-colored transport car "filled to the brim" with coal. The cars attach to each other securely, but not with hooks. Cleverly, their bumpers stick together via small but powerful little magnets. The wheels of the cars are well constructed and narrow, designed to fit Imaginarium's "Logging Adventure" train set (sold separately). However, the cars are also designed to be compatible with almost any other standard, wooden train set.Diane Beall ... Read more

Reviews (5)

works fine if you use the right batteries
The reviews here seem to be mostly reviewing the detonator problem with the quarry mountain set rather than the train cars of this set, so I thought I'd better pass the word on here: according to reviewers of the rock quarry set, this problem is fixed by using Rayovac Maximum Plus batteries. Don't know why, but there you go.

three trys, three non-functional mountains & no contact #
We bought this set for our grandson. We set it up and he loved it, but the mountain did not work. We returned it to the store in Concord, CA, but they did not have a replacement. We were sent to Antioch, CA. We insisted that the customer service representative try the replacement before we took it home. After opening three sets and trying them, she could not find one that worked with the store's batteries or ours. She did not know what she could do to find a working mountain, nor where we could get service. We find this strange. Where are the warranties?

what's the deal with the detonator????????
As in the other reviews I have read we have taken this train back two times, meaning we have tried three different Rock Quarry Train Sets and none of the detonators work???? Are we missing something???? or does the detonator just not work on any sets?????????????

Imaginarium Rock Quarry Train Set
My grandson loves this toy. We have been disappointed that the detonator and the crane did not work on the first train. We exchanged it and the detonator doesn't work on the second train. He has loved it as is and will love it even more if he has all working parts.

Rock Quarry review
Very easy to set up and my son places trains on tracks easily. However the Quarry did not work and will be returning for a new one. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Percy The Small Engine
This is a great toy!! I would never recommend to anyone to buy wooden Thomas toys. These plastic, battery-operated versions are loads better and will grow with your child better than the wooden ones. We have a lot of this kind of stuff for our railroad. Now, if only they would only make the track look like real railroad tracks. Can't have everything, I guess.

Tomica's Thomas series: One of the best train toys ever.
The Thomas series from Tomy is one of the best series of train toys I've ever seen. The combination of duribility, price and play versitility makes this toy a must for any Thomas fan. Unfortunately, Tomy has only released the majority of the Thomas series in Japan, so American consumers cannot get full value out of the series. There are dozons of rail sets and even more trains, including talking trains! Someone needs to patition Tomy to release more of this excellent toy series in the U.S.! ... Read more