Starter Set Question

nicknero

New Member
I work at a hobbyshop and Ill tell you what I tell customers with younger kids get them a starter set with a F7 than theres not much to break off and they still get a nice loco
 

Spartalee

New Member
my parents bought me a huge Brio set when I was younger and I abused it all the time throwing xcars making the wreck lol...and I still have the set today! it is very well priced and ver dourable and now you can buy locomotives with a double A battery inside to pull the train along the tracks or you can do it like I did and push em yourself very good for a young shild in my opinion.
 

michi_skip

New Member
kids and trains

I have a close friend whose 6 year old boy and 3 year old girl are in love with trains. I had bought a set for my husband about 2 years ago and although he proclaimed to love it he never did anything with it--not even out of the box. This year I am building a 4x8 layout for the kids for christmas and giving away his trains--I should have just bought the trains for myself and been honest about it--I have always wanted a set but we were military brats and moving every year or two doesn't lend itself to trains. Long story short girls love trains too.
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
I would go along with the idea of getting the Brio type wooden trains. Electric trains aren't really for children much under the age of 6-8, and can be really dangerous due to choking hazards for children under 3. I don't know if they have an Ikea near you, but my wife and I were there yesterday and surptised to find a wooden train set that runs on track like the Brio. I bought my 2 year old grandson a set of the Whittle Shortline Railroad wooden trains with a basic set of tracks for either Christmas or his Birthday in Jan. we haven't decided when to give them to him, yet. The train set at Ikea was only $12.00, and a set of additional tracks was only $6.00, so I picked up one of each so that he will have a bit more track to play with when he gets the Whittle Short Line train. The quality of the train in the Whittle Short Line set is much better then the inexpensive Ikea set, but the track looks like it will interchange easily.
 

n2trains

New Member
yeah, I've settled on a brio like set, then later on if he likes it (a few years down the road) upgrade to good brio. then onward and upward depeneding. But they will have a train for the christmas tree! yup, gotta have that ;) heh

again, thank you all for your suggestions. And I know girls like trains too, my g/f likes 'em! I'm stoked about that! she's takin me to the travel town museum in los angeles in january sometime. Love it. (and her... heh)
 
My son started his wooden trains at 1 1/2, and is transitioning to models in a few days (at 4) but he is not atypical kid. Lots of patience and keeps his hands to himself 95% of the time and never put anything in his mouth that he wasn't supposed to.
We have made countless trips to hobby shops and museums discussing trains as well as the difference between toys and models.

Good luck, enjoy it... but if you try something and it doesn't work, just back off until it does and proceed sowly from there. Some kids dont even like trains (GASP!) others like my son, can't make it through a nights sleep without talking in his sleep about them!
 

The Royal Blue

New Member
Hey Brandon, great idea you have with the train set, I would be more inclined to buy the baby a Tomy train set they are a good quality childs playset and very robust. My Daughter (2) now owns quite a few sets which were handed down to her from my Son (5) and previously handed down from my nephew (now 16), my kids have treated this stuff very roughly and it has stood up to them very well. They can be run on a single double A battery or just pushed around without any harm to the loco.
I was given a train set as a child (8yo) and I think that I may have been a little too young, I was at the stage in my life where I was pulling things apart to see how they worked and I regret to say I destroyed the Loco in 12 months. I don't want to put you off the idea but kids are kids.
I hope this helps you with your desision. If you realy want to buy a train set for the baby why don't you buy it and mothball it until the child is old enough to appreciate it.
Cheers Paul
 

jflessne

Member
I see the decision has been made but I didn't see anyone mention Geotrax by fisher price. Powered and the controller has some basic sounds. My son (Will be 4 soon) loves to get 4 trains going on his Geotrax layout. And I'll tell you he's only broken one because he sneaked outside with it and played with it in the sand box. The amazing thing was Fisher price replaced in 5 days with a simple call to customer service. No questions asked.

Of course in my house he has a O scale train that's out of his reach. And I have a lot of Ho scale. We developed some basic rules for handling the Geotrax and it seems to translate to my HO stock.
 
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