My son got his first Brio train set when he was three. My friend was selling hers for £40, as her son wanted to buy a Hornby set with the money. The set had several trains and hundreds of miles of track! The trains are well made with all the intricate details etched on them. The track is wooden and sturdy and will withstand some rough play.

I took it home for the night to see if he was interested in playing with the trains. Due to most of the trains having to be pushed along and only a couple battery operated I wondered whether he would be interested in them. Most children these days are only into playing with toys that contain batteries.

After several minutes a blank expression lifted from my sons face, he went over to the train set and moved a couple of trains albeit a few inches but he did make the effort nonetheless. My husband appeared to enjoy the track more than my son at first but it was not too long before my son got the idea, that some toys need some effort put into the games and not just sitting back and watching it happen.

We finally purchased the train track and one year later I can tell you it’s the best buy I have made. I can honestly say I have never seen Luke enjoy and appreciate a toy so much. It really is his most treasured possession. He makes up the most complicated rail systems, way over my head. A lovely touch I see him doing regularly is to clean his trains with his sister’s baby wipes. This can be a bit annoying at times especially when he has used the whole packet but I don't mind really its great to see him look after his toy and take such a pride of his cherished engines.

This Christmas all our relatives bought him new trains and accessories, including an adventure tunnel and a level crossing with flashing lights. If your child does have a Brio train set or a Tesco version, which is also compatible, these are lovely extras for the track. Extremely realistic especially th
e tunnel as when the train enters it, it makes a noise of the train going right the way through it.

My son has nearly all of the popular trains, I say nearly all as we all forgot to buy Edward and he has been putting us on a guilt trip ever since, with comments like. " It would really make my Christmas if I had Edward" so you don't need two guesses where I am off to tomorrow. Being realistic I know once he has Edward it will be "If only I had ...."

The trains cost between £10 - 15.00 each which is quite expensive. The accessories such as the Adventure Tunnel and the Level Crossing are priced at £25.00 each.

Once my son has grown out of this, (if he ever does, his dad hasn’t) I will keep this for him to give to his family. This toy for me could never be passed on in a car boot sale as it has so much sentimental value to me now. Just watching him enjoy the toy so much gives me great pleasure. Its not often you can say that about toys of today, especially the modern toys requiring batteries and only lasting five minutes, where they have either broke due to bad quality or the boredom factor.