TrainDad

Go to the battery aisle of your local Wal-Mart, and you will find that a four-pack of any brand rechargeable batteries will set you back about ten bucks. But Wal-Mart has a secret — half-price batteries hiding out with the digital camera accessories. Four AA or AAA rechargeables (NiMH) are only $4.95. Amazingly, this approximates the lowest price for bulk generics on eBay (after shipping). They are also available with fast 30-minute and 1-hour chargers.

These aren’t wimpy batteries, either, with a 1,000 mah rating for AAA (the higher energy capacity means longer run time).

Just look for the gaudy metallic blue/green batteries in the yellow “bubble” package. A necessity for anyone using digital cameras or battery-eating toys!

This is the last part of a series.

What it really comes down to is this: with the Thomas sets, I get the feeling that the manufacturers are using the Thomas brand to sell product. Nothing wrong with that; but with GeoTrax, the manufacturer doesn’t have that brand, so they have to make a superior product that will sell on its own. And superior it is, in a myriad of ways:

1. Fantastic track. This stuff is really sturdy and easy to use!
   • It’s super-easy to hook together, even for the youngest children. I’ve seen a 1-year-old do it.
   • Once hooked, it holds together well enough that you can literally slide a layout across carpet without it falling apart.
   • But when the time comes to reconfigure or put it away, they pop apart easily when you want them to.
   • It holds up to being stepped on, even on carpet, without breaking or disconnecting (usually!).
   • The switches are easy to operate, slide out of place less frequently (causing fewer derailments), and look more realistic.
   • It’s real rail — train wheels really ride on flanges.
   • It’s precision made to minimize derailments, and often can re-rail automatically when they do happen.
   • It all interconnects — all types, all bridges, all buildings. This is not like the Tomy set where the road pieces are completely separate from the rail pieces.
2. Clever engineering.
   • Powered toys can also be hand-pushed (without stripping gears), even while turned on. Brilliant!
   • Gear-driven on uphills. This allows an engine to pull a long line of cars without the wheels slipping. Brilliant!
   • the same gear also drives action on many buildings - turning a crane, loading a pipe, rotating the turntable on the roundhouse. Brilliant!
3. Well-thought-out and kid-tested.
   • Huge on/off button right on top of the engines.
   • Simple, effective coupling system is easy to use. Yesterday I saw my son uncouple a Tomy — he held the engine and shook it really hard until the cars flew off.
   • Easy-access battery compartments. Have you seen the ridiculous battery extraction on a Tomy Thomas?
4. Grows with the child.
   • From the simplest circle of track to phenomenally complex layouts designed in CAD and sold on eBay (make sure you watch the animated build to see just how crazy it gets!), there’s no end to what you can do. Give teens a box of GeoTrax, and they love it. Moms admit addiction to it. It has endless appeal.
   • From the simplest buildings operable by a 2-year-old to the crazy roundhouse that took me 10 minutes to figure out, there is a range of products with a range of skill levels.
   • From simple, easy-connecting hills to 19-foot-tall towers.
   • Still fun for big kids… really big kids, like, um, dads…
5. Excellent build quality. Every piece is amazing. Sturdy, durable, precise.
6. Cost. Any given piece costs less than a comparable piece in any of the Thomas sets. The cheapest items in the line are easily found for $2.99, and they always include extras — in that example, you get a train engine, a gondola car, a crate, and a section of track. Beat that, Tommy!
7. Options.
   • Vehicle options like crazy:
     • unpowered, unpowered with lights and sound, powered (which typically come as part of a set), remote control with forward/stop, remote control with reverse.
     • not just trains: construction equipment, fire, ambulance and police, airplanes and helicopters, ships and snowplows.
8. Yes, remote control.
9. Sound effects. All of the remote-operated vehicles have digitally-recorded sounds from their real-life counterparts; you can play them at will.
10. Elevation! Multi-deck heights like nobody’s business! And don’t tell me you can do this with Tomy. I’ve seen the YouTube videos of people trying, but they don’t compare.
11. Speed! One of the surprising bonuses I wasn’t expecting was the way trains hurtle down hills. It’s exciting and unexpected, and adds a whole new element of fun. For big kids and adults, a lot of the appeal is in trying to see how far you can push the envelope without the trains flying completely out of control.
12. Any toy that gets blogged on Wired must be cool.
13. And then gets a Wired writeup on hacking it. Even cooler.
14. New stuff added regularly. They are always improving the product, and new releases are highly anticipated. This year, for example, they are introducing people — small, cleverly-designed figures than fit into engines and other cars.

But when it all comes down to it, my son thinks it’s just more fun — and that’s good enough for me.

This is part 2 of a series.

I’ve reviewed the various Thomas sets elsewhere, so I’ll not repeat that now. Each type has good and bad characteristics, but I’ve never been completely satisfied with any of them. Since model railroads aren’t good options for young children, I’ll drop them from the discussion and address the others. Here are some reasons for my dissatisfaction, in a vague order of importance:

• Ease of use.
  • For young children — my two-year-old being a good example — the way track hooks together and cars couple up is critical. In my experience, the Take Along track is virtually impossible for these young ones; the Tomy track is very difficult. Magnetic couplers often repel each other, if you don’t get them right; the plastic Tomy hook connectors are ridiculous. No possible way most kids could work them.
  • Features not well-engineered and tested. The popular Take Along Roundhouse, for example, has bay doors that I can hardly open. The turntable can slide at an awkward angle and get stuck or just refuse to “snap” into the correct position.
• Quality of build.
  • No argument on the wood sets, but the others are questionable. No: Tomy is frankly awful, made of cheap, thin, flimsy plastic. They look, feel, and act cheap. Take Along has well-build engines and cars, but the track is definitely second-rate, and the structures aren’t quite as well-engineered as they should be.
• Functionality.
  • Magnetic coupling isn’t strong enough to make long consists (lines of cars hooked together).
  • Take Along uses two totally different types of track with different connectors. That has become a confusing mess of adapters and strange track.
  • The wood set works best on a hard surface; that’s why they are often used with a ridiculously-expensive train table. The Tomy sets are quite difficult to use on carpet.
• Price.
  • All sets are relatively expensive. Compare a Take Along cast engine to a comparable Matchbox™ vehicle, and the price is typically 5-8 times higher. The wood sets are priced extremely high.
• Interest over time.
  • I’m sure there are exceptions, but my experience shows that most kids start losing interest in these sets relatively quickly. For the most part, they do one thing only; i.e., they aren’t designed to grow with the child and provide intellectual challenges and extended playtime enjoyment over a wide range of ages.
• Realism.
  • None of the three are realistic in some critical ways. In fact, none of them even use rails — they all have wheels that ride in ruts. The Tomy sets minimize car derailments by letting the wheels flop, which looks like they are broken.
  • Thomas is modeled on the British railroad system. My little guy, with his only experience in American railroading, wanted toys of the big trains he was seeing in real life. I know that’s not a fair argument for other people, but it’s big deal to this one.
• Not following the crowd.
  • Have you seen the Thomas aisle at Wal-Mart?! You mean to tell me there is no other kid’s train out there?

Now, on to part 3…

If your child is interested in trains, it’s inevitable that they will end up discovering Thomas the Tank Engine. Aside from the books, videos, pillows, toothbrushes and band-aids, Thomas is widely available in a variety of toy trains. A wide variety — it’s confusing! Here are the five major types of Thomas railroads, and some of the good and bad with each:

1. Learning Curve’s Take Along Thomas and Friends is where many people start. These are small cast metal and plastic vehicles, similar in size to Matchbox™ or Hot Wheels™. Nothing is powered. Coupling is magnetic. Because individual engines are available en masse at nearly all major retailers, many kids own at least one or two of them. Once you start adding track, things get messy. The initial style of track didn’t work very well, with tiny connectors that were hard for young children. That style is gradually being replaced by a bigger, easier style (shown right). Unfortunately, right now both products are on the market, along with a mess of adapters to allow interconnection. Try to just purchase the new style if possible. As the name suggests, this is the series to get if you are tight on space. When it comes to sets, most popular is the Roundhouse Playset. This is a fun and tightly-packed set that is easy to travel with. Note that the new style of track packs nicely into the lid, but the old style doesn’t — make sure you buy one with the new track! Many more parts and sets are available than you will see in stores. Some of the best are the Take Along Play Mat, Harold’s Heliport, and the fantastic, just-announced Thomas and Percy Carnival.
2. Tomy, or Tomica, makes an all-plastic powered line that is very popular. The Water Tower Steam Set is a good starting place. There are huge sets available, and they can often be found for great prices around the holidays. Note that these take up lots of space — one set is often larger than 4′x8′. There are some great accessory sets, such as Harold at the Helipad and the Sodor Quarry. If money is tight, this is one of the best options. I’ve heard that Tomy has recently released die cast engines, but I have yet to see them.
3. The wooden sets made by Learning Curve, such as the Roundhouse Set, are the best Thomas toys available. They are interchangeable with Brio and many other brands of wooden track and cars. They are expensive but durable. They have both powered and unpowered versions. Coupling is magnetic, and there is an immense selection of cars and engines available. Since the wooden set works best on a hard surface, many people use them with a train table. The brand-name train tables are crazily expensive, though. In fact, you could take out a second mortgage to pay for some of the high-end sets like the $700 Learning Curve Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway - Sights & Sounds Set (on sale now for the low, low price of $540!). If you are serious about entering the wooden world, you can get a similarly fabulous set for a fraction of the price. Get the KidKraft Train Table and 120-pc. Transportation City, then add Thomas, Annie and Clarabel, and a Friends Gift Pack. One more thing — the cheapest way to get more engines might be to take advantage of the free toy included with many Thomas DVDs.
4. The Bachmann Thomas set hardly counts as a toy. This HO scale model railroad set is lovely but too fragile for young children. It adds delightful moving eyes to the engines and the most detail and precision of all. They have an appearance nearly identical to the trains in the Thomas television series. There are some accessory pieces available, though nothing like the selections of the previous types, and several additional engines and cars. If you decide to go this route, you need to know that Bachmann makes two types of track; one has a gray base, one a black base. The Thomas set only works with the black base track.
5. The Lionel Thomas set is classic Lionel O gauge. It’s more of a toy than the Bachmann set, but is quite expensive. Few accessories are available beyond engines and cars; in fact, I’ve only seen a single little trackside shed. It is the largest Thomas set by far — Thomas himself is about 8″ long — and is quite impressive. I think this is primarily aimed at grandparents.

I said five major types, because there are many other types and sizes of Thomas toys. Since Thomas is all about licensing, they will let just about anybody make another product. Ertl produced cast metal Thomas trains for a decade. Although they have been discontinued, they are still readily available on the web. If you run across them and are tempted, that’s fine — just remember that they are not compatible with any of the other systems. Lego Duplo has also produced Lego Thomas products. Tomix has produced a few N-scale model railroad items, and Hornby produces an OO-gauge line of Thomas trains, primarily sold in England. A line called My First Thomas, specifically designed for infants, was sold for a brief time in the US and is still available in England. Even then I’m sure I’ve missed a few.

It’s hard to imagine how the parent of a train buff could escape Thomas. He dominates the children’s railroading industry (amazing, to think that such a thing exists!). We first received a “Tomy” engine, then a “TakeAlong” set, then more “Tomy.” After building small collections of those two Thomas sets, we found out about the wooden Thomas. Oh no — should we switch? I’m sure our confusion has been mirrored a million times — what’s the best?

But then I found GeoTrax. I’m not wanting to knock Thomas here; Jonathan still likes to play with them. But GeoTrax is so far superior that I have to share it with you.

On to part 2…