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Brio 33571 Classic Train Pack
by Coffeetiere
Another of my son's Christmas toys was the Brio classic train set, no. 33571. This set of one engine and two carriages comes in a wooden box and my son loves it.
The train engine is wooden, as are the two carriages. The engine and carriages are a nice colour coordinated red, black and yellow paint and I think they look quite ... stricking in a traditional kind of way. The two carriages are actually like oil tankers, which is what we call them and both the carriages and the engine have "Brio" written across them in white.
Obviously only being a week old I can't comment on wear and tear, however all the other painted wooden Brio trains we have seem to be very sturdy and don't scratch easily. They are all packed into a box, sometimes thrown in, which annoys me on clearing up so the paint must be pretty tough.
I like that this engine and carriages are joinery together by magnets. They are easy to put together and pull apart for little fingers but it also teaches children and magnetics and how two of the same pole retract.
Even the wheels on this set are wooden, like little wooden buttons. They fit perfectly onto the track and smoothly run along as they are being pushed/pulled by my children. They also run nicely without the tracks on the vinyl of my kitchen floor.
Obviously this set can be joined to other Brio trains and carriages and my son likes to make the longest train he can using up as many engines and carriages as the magnets will allow him to pull. The front engine will usually pull about eight carriages before it becomes too must force on the magnet joining it to the next carriage.
The box indicates this toy is for children two upwards, and this is about right. There are small pieces, ie. the wheels however they are well attached and I'm always within supervising distance when my son is playing anyway. It's a lovely toy for little boy and girls can play too, I do wish I had got my daughter some Brio when she was younger as she does seem to like it, and it's a good way for father's to spend quality time with their daughters.
I bought this toy a while back from a local toy store when they had an offer on and it was £9, which I think is ok value for the three parts. I think this is a very smart little traditional toy.
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Thomas and Friends Sodor Chicken Cars
by chrisandmark
When my sister bought Hollie a tiny wooden train track she also purchased a few small Thomas and Friends trains to go with it; after spotting a good deal in our local toy shop Hollie ended up with more than we expected, including this pack of two Sodor Chicken Cars which are not only fabulous to look at but also make 'clucking-squawking' ... sounds when activated.
Each carriage is just over two inches long and has the usual magnet at each end so they can be attached to each other, other carriages and the Thomas and Friends engines. While these are fabulously made wooden carriages, there's visibly more plastic used in their creation than any of Hollie's other Thomas trains from the same range - this is out of necessity as to activate the sounds you need to slide sections of the chicken carriage across, something that simply wouldn't be possible if it were constructed of pure wood. The plastic is very bright and cheerful, extremely high quality and in my opinion the wooden toy definitely does not suffer in either appearance or usability from the addition of plastic - in fact usability increases as the plastic portions move so smoothly and easily. The fact that the chassis of both cars is the usual wooden variety makes the toys far more durable than if they were made of 100% plastic, although if it weren't for the names being printed on the underside of the chassis I don't think it would be instantly recognisable as a Thomas addition.
Both Hollie and her two year old brother were able to activate the sounds on the chicken car from pretty much the first use, admittedly David was younger than the recommended minimum age when Hollie first received it and he couldn't get his fat little baby fingers to slide the door across far enough but over not very much time at all he sussed it out and now it's kinda become his train rather than Hollies! He laughs uproariously when the clucking chickens start and is visibly disappointed when they stop their noise!
The carriage which holds the trays of eggs is my favourite as the top comes off and so it can be used as flatbed carriage or loaded with eggs. I've noticed this opens up Hollie's role-play games as she'll push the unloaded carriage through Sodor and has all sorts of imaginative reasons as to why Thomas or Rosie (her other engine) needs to collect these eggs. She tends to play with both of the chicken carriages together but I can tell the egg one is get favourite too as it gets all the plum roles in her games!
The carriages are made to be as perfect as everything else from the Thomas and Friends range. The wheels are securely attached and loose enough that they can be given a small shove and roll unhindered across the floor, of course this often means they'll roll under the furniture but this can't be helped and they're easily found due to them being predominantly white rather than a darker colour. The magnets are strong enough to allow you to carefully lift one carriage and the other to dangle - it's not particularly impressive and I only mention it really to give you an idea of the strength, Hollie gets annoyed when the removable egg layer falls off if (without thinking) she lifts that car but this can't be helped and should be quite obvious to a bright little girl such as herself! The magnets also react negatively to prevent you from attaching a carriage back to front - it was great when we discovered this as Hollie was only just turned four and didn't know much about magnets, but she soon learnt by playing with the Thomas trains in general and we had a fun couple of afternoons repeating the process of 'right/wrong' way round. David, at a much younger age, is already showing signs of being interested in the magnets and impresses me every time I see him immediately realise that he needs to turn one of the carriages around for the magnets to attract.
David is also a perfect example of how these two carriages have helped him to perfect his hand to eye coordination. Although the recommended minimum age is two years he's been playing (in a fashion) with them since he was around sixteen months old and quickly learned about putting the magnets together with some precision, also the action of fitting the wheels correctly onto Hollie's wooden track to enable him to push them along has taught him a little about cause and effect - which sounds bizarre at his young age but it's true, the physical nature of the carriages really bringing learning to life for him which can only be a good thing.
These carriages have certainly stood the test of time for us and are showing absolutely no signs of being almost three years old despite very regular play. There's a small tooth mark in the plastic roof of the chicken car from the day when David decided he was going to use it as a teether in secret, although to be honest the force with which he chomped down when he was in pain with his teeth has left me surprised that these tiny little carriages (and accompanying engines) weren't left completely pockmarked!
The twin set of Chicken and Egg Cars currently costs £14.99 on Amazon, which is excellent value considering how many hours of play they've provided my two youngest children with. They make a great gift as the carriages arrive nicely packaged, before buying however I'd recommend you check that the recipient has at least one engine to use alongside them (a track isn't strictly necessary) - and if not, buy them an engine too!
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Brio 33253 Stacking Track Supports
by broxi3781
I came across this item looking for another product on dooyoo and noticed that no one had reviewed yet. I do hate for a category to be left empty - so I decided to review this. I only have one of these, which came included in another set, but you can buy a pair from Amazon on their own at £8.70. This may sound a bit steep, but I'm ... actually considering another set, these little pieces are brilliant if you would like to have an extended aerial track.
Our train set is a bit of a higgledy piggledy set with pieces from several different brands of wooden railway sets. It is set out on a very large table includes a large plastic mountain from an Asda set and a wonderful lifting bridge which is from Big Jigs. These between these I have a large section of aerial track, and of course two risers are used at the ends. Sadly the lifting bridge lacks a shelf or edge for the riser to join to, and no matter what we tried, it fell down quite a bit. This looked just the ticked to fix the issue, but because this does have a small ledge for another track to rest on - it will not attach directly to most accessories like bridges, mountains etc. Instead a small piece of Brio mini track was needed to make the connection. This has proved a perfect solution , and the tracks stay in place perfectly now - however one section of my ( oops I means the children's) aerial track still falls down at times, so I really do need at least one more.
Brio is known for wood - and I'm afraid this support is mostly plastic. Personally, I would have preferred the green legs of this support to be wood, but the plastic is very sturdy and thick - it doesn't feel or look cheap like many plastic toys do. The only actual wood here is the tiny section of track, which is beechwood, as all of Brio products are, and meant to be taken only from sustainable sources. Brio also claims this wood is non splintering, and I have to admit I have never seen a piece of Brio track splinter - and I do have quite a lot, some bought new and many other parts used. I have had some wooden track split and splinter, in fact I threw one piece away last night, but never with Brio.
This track is spaced just right so that you can pass another track directly underneath for figure eight shapes or fly overs. Train track can fit in either direction under this, so if you had enough of these - you could create a double decker track as well. You can then have trains going above and below this small section. I have used this with several other bits and pieces, including track from Brio, Big Jigs, Tesco, Asda, Lidl, and The wooden Thomas range, as well as at least one off the wall brand I can't remember from ebay. I have not had any problems with fit as long as I am just joining track to this. This little piece is exceptionally sturdy and well balanced and really does add a lot of stability to any above ground rail lines.
Obviously, this toy would not be of any use on its own. It does need to be added to an existing track and train set, but it should be able to be used with almost any wooden train set - it doesn't have to be just Brio. Personally - I find simple track shapes, like a plain circle very boring, and I feel half the fun of having a wooden train set is building all sorts of new designs. I believe this helps children with logical thinking as well - to imagine how it will all fit together and plan new connections etc... The only provision I would place in recommending this item , is that, rather obviously, you must have the riser tracks to make this of any use. If you have these you can create larger bridges, aerial tracks, stabilize existing bridges or just make a figure 8. It really does make playing with the tracks much more fun - and I have to admit - it isn't just the children who play with this.
Speaking of the children though, I do always try to include their opinion on toys as well. In all honesty, my 4 year old wasn't that fussed with this when I asked. he said it doesn't do anything until I showed him how the track fell down without it. It isn't exactly a high glamour toy, and will never rank as high with him as his mountain tunnel, engine wash, or even the little bell. But just because it isn't exciting doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile - so i won't be rating this down. My seven year old doesn't like to admit how much he still likes this set - as I think he feels a bit too big for toy trains - but he does say it is good for building things - which is his favourite thing to do with the trains - take everything apart and rebuild it all. As for me - I'll never be to big for trains - I think this toy is brilliant.
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