I sunk so much $$ into the whole Thomas train world--I just want to gouge my eyes out with those trains, honestly.

Anonymous wrote:We don't have Thomas, but we do have some wooden trains from the UK that are compatible with BigJigs and Brio, so thanks for the heads up on ikea track.

The first person to introduce my kid to Thomas gets beaten with a rake. For some reason, Thomas annoys the crap out of me. I am a terrible mama.

Good luck with that. Seriously. He will find Thomas and he will love Thomas. Embrace it and enjoy it, because this is the calm before the action figures and fighting toys.

I started this thread quite awhile ago and I gotta say, new posters, you all are funny.

so here's an update. WE all ALL THE Fing tracks! and various numbers of all the trains!!! It is insane and my husband has threatened horrible things regarding them.

But, if my son could only chose one toy it would be a train or 2 handfuls of trains.

Tracks actually unnecessary.

We don't have Thomas, but we do have some wooden trains from the UK that are compatible with BigJigs and Brio, so thanks for the heads up on ikea track.

The first person to introduce my kid to Thomas gets beaten with a rake. For some reason, Thomas annoys the crap out of me. I am a terrible mama.

There are some battery ones made for wooden track. Stick with wood, and avoid diecast or take and play

Anonymous wrote:wooden train works on wooden track. Battery trains work on plastic track or wooden track. I still have to find track for diecast trains. I was told to check the play and go track.

The diecast are this style - they have them at Target and other places.

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Friends-Take-n-Play-Rumbling-Gold/dp/B004ORQ4JG

There are three kinds of Thomas tracks.

1) Wooden which work with the regular wooden trains. They mix with Ikea and other brands

2) Battery operated trains - these are bigger trains with bigger track

3) The small metal ones - take and play and they have their own track too.

Its annoying as they sucker you in.

wooden train works on wooden track. Battery trains work on plastic track or wooden track. I still have to find track for diecast trains. I was told to check the play and go track.

OMG - I'm with you and the frusteration. My son has basically outgrown it now, but he loved trains. We started with IKEA, but people bought him Thomas stuff, plus once he saw the show, he really wanted some of the trains. Overall I found them worth the money because he played with them for hours and hours and hours. But, I think the Thomas line started to branch out way too far a few years back. They have way too many variations. My poor relatives would buy a train, thinking it was compatiable, but it wasn't. Luckily my son was happy to play with them on the floor.

I always thought he and Emily were quite compatible.

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Anonymous wrote:Ladies and Gentlemen;

I'll admit it, I'm cheap. I've gotten a lot of great Thomas stuff that is all INCOMPATIBLE with each other from various, used sources.

What the heck! Why does 1 of my Thomas work with a wooden IKEA track but the others don't?

what is the difference between the take along and take and play?

what die-cast trains work with a wooden track?

HELP!

Skip the Thomas stuff. Does you kid really like it? My DS isn't super picky, but maybe I'm just lucky.

We found these awesome BigJig train cars that are wooden. Work fine with the IKEA set. Bought off Amazon.

http://www.shop.bigjigstoys.us/home/index/12465.1

Anonymous wrote:I haven't had any issues with the Thomas tracks being incompatible with others, except that I think we had an IKEA tunnel that was too small for the Thomas trains to fit through. But the tracks themselves fit together.

Like PP said, the metal trains work on the plastic take and play tracks, but they don't work on the wood tracks. However, the wooden trains do run on the plastic tracks.

There is also Trackmaster, which are another set of tracks and has trains that are battery-powered.

Chuggington tracks are not compatible with any of the Thomas tracks (that I know of).

Just wanted to chime in to report that the Thomas Trackmaster does work on the wooden tracks, but not the tunnels or really tight/sharp curves. DS has, conservatively, six trillion wooden and die cast Thomas trains. Accordingly, I resisted the Trackmaster for so long, thinking that bringing another track system into my house would surely push me over the edge and land me in a padded room somewhere. Had I known that Trackmaster would also work on wooden track, I might not have held quite so firm for so long.

As for Chuggington, the wooden trains work with the wooden tracks that Thomas trains run on, but the die cast do not. Also note that the wooden Chuggingtons are magnetic and connect to the Thomas trains, but the die cast are not magnetic and only connect to other Chuggington die casts.

In the end, here are the two keys to Thomas (at least in my experience): buy wooden, and buy from ebay or on sale at AC Moore.

I haven't had any issues with the Thomas tracks being incompatible with others, except that I think we had an IKEA tunnel that was too small for the Thomas trains to fit through. But the tracks themselves fit together.

Like PP said, the metal trains work on the plastic take and play tracks, but they don't work on the wood tracks. However, the wooden trains do run on the plastic tracks.

There is also Trackmaster, which are another set of tracks and has trains that are battery-powered.

Chuggington tracks are not compatible with any of the Thomas tracks (that I know of).

Wooden trains work with the wooden tracks. The die cast ones are for the plastic tracks. I don't know about take and play vs. take along.

Most wooden sets fit with each other, as far as I know (usually they will advertise it). We have a combination of Ikea, Melissa and Doug, Thomas, etc and it all works.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

I'll admit it, I'm cheap. I've gotten a lot of great Thomas stuff that is all INCOMPATIBLE with each other from various, used sources.

What the heck! Why does 1 of my Thomas work with a wooden IKEA track but the others don't?

what is the difference between the take along and take and play?

what die-cast trains work with a wooden track?

HELP!