Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great addition
Comment: We wanted to expand this collection for my son since he loves his round house station. We travel alot so it is nice to have this set. I do not believe this set is intended to make a complete track, it is intended to expand the sets you already have. It does what it is supposed to- allow you to expand the track and make different track designs for the kids. My two year old is figuring it out, but for now I help him with it. It is pretty durable and he is happy with it. I don't have much trouble but no, you aren't going to make a complete track with no loose ends. Just use your creativity. that's what this toy is supposed to do- give kids the opportunity to be creative in developing their own tracks.I think it's great and I will probably buy my son the switch and change track pack too. He prefers this set to his wooden set and the trackmaster set is just too advanced for him... just an FYI...
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Wooden railroad is better
Comment: The Take Along track set is nice for...taking along somewhere! But our little guy prefers the wooden tracks and trains over these for his everyday play. The wooden track is easier for little hands to work with. These pieces are sometimes difficult to snap together. We really like the Take Along trains and vehicles, but this track is definitely lower quality than the wooden or Trackmaster track sets. We are not going to invest anymore money in this type of track, but are going to expand our son's wooden track collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Easy to Handle and Use
Comment: My 4 year old son took an interest in the take-along Thomas trains and wanted some track to go with them. The track is easily put together by him. It is lighter than the wooden track so he can handle a large box of pieces without a problem. The "rails" are wide enough so that the trains pass easily on them. (They are also wide enough for Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars). He loves this track and I think it's a great item.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great toy
Comment: My son got a take along Thomas when he turned two and was quickly bored with the few tracks it came with so I bought these add-on tracks. He loves these tracks and spends hours configuring them. Although he likes to use them with his matchbox cars more than with the trains. Would definitely buy again and recommend to others.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Some good, some bad
Comment: The good: My 3 year old daughter loves to play with Take Along Thomas trains and the plastic tracks and connectors are pretty durable since the joints do take a fair amount of abuse when being pushed and pulled by those little hands from side to side. They still connect together strongly and are a good exercise for her to piece them together.
The bad: There are basically 4 different pieces of track. A short straight, a long straight, a curve, and a curve with a fork (a 3-way). If you want to create more than just a circular or oval track, you have to use the 3-ways. Since the lengths of the short straight and the the 3-way turn are not complimentary (putting them together does not add up to the length of the long straight or the radius of a curve), it is difficult to make multiple loops in which the final connections line up. In order to get the final connection together, you have to stress the joints. This stress causes the connections to sometimes pop. It isn't really an issue for a 3 year old building a track, since they don't really care if all the tracks connect. But if you have an older child (OR A DAD WHO GETS ASKED TO BUILD COMPLETE TRACKS FOR HIS DAUGHTER), it can be frustrating to get the tracks to connect up. In addition, the 3-ways always turn in the same direction! How much money did they save in manufacturing by not having to make one more mold?
These tracks would be great if they did just two simple things: 1. Made the sizes of the pieces so that they were designed to all work together and 2. Spent the money in manufacturing to make a mold for a 2nd 3-way that turns in the other direction. Maybe I'm too picky, but I don't think it would have taken much more work or expense to get it right. I guess they figured little kids wouldn't notice or care.
|
