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| Brand: LEGO
Category: Toy
Buy New: $69.90
New (9) from $69.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 6494
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 2 - 5 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.3
Dimensions (in): 4.5 x 11.5 x 19
MPN: 005554
Model: 4249295
UPC: 673419059800
EAN: 0673419059800
ASIN: B0007PHOYI
Release Date: June 12, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Lego 5554. 61 Pieces. It is factory sealed new and has never been opened. It is still in factory case.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great starter set, but budget for more tracks. July 13, 2007
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
Summary:
Top quality product from Lego as you have come to expect, allowing for hours and hours of fun (for the kids and parents) but be prepared to buy the other sets and extra tracks.
My Story:
My son was 18 months when I was looking for some sort of train set. I came across this really by chance at a store as I did not realise Lego made a Duplo series train set. Was initially looking at the wooden Thomas the tank engine sets, but those were incredibly expensive. In anycase, I bought this set first as a "tester" to see if my son would like it and also to test the durability of the toy. Passed with flying colours on both accounts.
The box itself is reasonably sized, but mostly filled with air. The Duplo parts are quite chunky. It comes with 1 very thin instruction manual. My initial impression of the tracks were that they were flimsy and didn't connect or stay connected together very well, but I quickly learned that they were pretty robust and the connection mechanisms were perfect for those with developing motor skills. They join together with a jigsaw type link. Thomas comes in 4 parts, the base with the wheels, his face, body and top cover of the body. Again very easy to assemble, great for the learning ones. There are quite few other bits like the train station, signal lights and loading tank.
The assembled set is a reasonable size (23" x 35" or 60 x 90cm) and fitted nicely on my son's play table. But as soon as I expanded the set with the other series and tracks, it has to be spread all over the floor. As a note, 6 curved tracks make a semi circle with a diameter of 23" or 60cm. The tracks work much better on a hard surface. If you put the tracks on carpet they do have a tendency of coming disconnected. The trains stay on the tracks very well (provided the tracks are on a hard surface) and don't often derail. Remember this set is a manual push train set. You can get the motorised 4.5V motorised train set which is also compatible, so that may be a great expansion option for when the kids are older.
Although it says its for 2-5 year, from a parts point of view it is safe as there are really no small parts to really choke on. When I first got it my son just loves to play with Thomas, taking the tracks and the various buildings apart, but after about a week or so he realised that the tracks needs to stay together and he leaves it alone now. After about 2 weeks or so he started putting the tracks together, shortly there after he started to put the Duplo brick pieces together. It will be a while before he actually assembles the tracks and bricks as it is suppose to but regardless, since we got the set, pretty much all his other toys are now collecting dust. I hope to get several years of play with this toy given the expandability and flexibility. Probably store it for a little while and bring it back out, especially during those cold winter months.
Recommendations:
If you are planning to get the extras, I recommend buying some sort of storage containers as they do take up some room. On the note of extras, if you are like me you will be wondering about what expansion options you can get. I have spent many hours researching this so here it a quick low down to save you some time. Firstly there are several of Thomas's friends available. These include Harold the Helicopter (3300), Cargo-Loading Cranky (3301), Percy at the Water Tower (5556), James at Knapford Station (5552) and Toby at Wellsworth (5555, although this doesn't seem to be available anymore in the US). 3 additional friends have just been released. This includes Gordon Express (3354), Spencer and Sir Topham Hatt (3353) and Salty the Dockyard Diesel (3352).
Secondly in terms of track expansion options there are several of these and certainly worth while additions to the already cool set. These are currently available: curved track (6 pack) (2735), straight track (6 pack) (2734), a bridge (3774), a level crossing (3773), and switching tracks (3775).
Thirdly, if you have been looking at the other Lego Duplo train sets (non-Thomas related) you would have noticed that the "Train Starter Set (3771)" has a Cross track (2737). You will then wonder, how can I buy the cross track? Well you can't, not new anymore anyway. This is where the research led me to a couple of things. 1, that there is an unofficial Lego Marketplace where you can find these and other discontinued Lego Duplo train parts. And 2, there use to be the Lego Duplo Intelli-Train series. This was an "intelligent" motorised series of train sets released in 2002 which has since been discontinued. Very cool indeed (as they get older). Just do a search on this to find out more. In any case over the years the Duplo Train series have had a number of supplemental items which we can no longer get, like the Intelli-Train Tunnel (3334) or the Stop/Start Rail (5027) to name a couple.
Finally, just a quick comment with regards to train track layouts. As the number of tracks expand the kids will have a great time working those imagination to come up with innovative and creative track layouts. For the parents, if you are thinking that you can just find example layouts on the internet, don't hold your breath. This will be tough. You will have to use your imagination along with your kids.
 Beautiful set, too many pieces, not for a toddler to play with individually. July 7, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this set for my son when he was 15 months old, thinking that the age rating and the chunky trains would provide some good play. He is now 27 mths old, and is still too uncoordinated to handle this set without a lot of help. The set comes with so many pices, all the trains, stations, signals etc. have to be built piece by piece with lego blocks. When built, my son compulsively examines them and picks them up to play, whereupon they just fall aprt. He tries to put them back together, but can't, gets very frustrated and gets upset (crying, throwing pieces around etc.). I tried to make the track layout more interesting by buying the other trains. This made everything worse since there are just lots of pieces, that complicate, clutters, and confuses my son, who quickly lost interest. Also, there are no suggested track layouts, so for a novice train builder like me, building a nice track, where the trains could run smoothly, is very difficult. This review goes for all the other duplo sets, Bob the builder, the big farm etc. The only exception is the Bob the builder mobile caravan, which comes with a few pieces and a fully built caravan.
For a 2-3 year old, I would suggest a simple circular wooden track with one or two wooden trains. My son like to build the track himself, and play with the pieces so a simple layout is best. The Thomas wooden train is nice, but expensive to expand, and does not come with people and/or animals, which encourage imaginative play. I packed up the Thomas duplo trains, and I've ordered the Brio starter train (15 pieces, with a track that comes with end pieces that encourage floor to track play, and where the track does not have to meet in a circle). The Brio is a lot cheaper the expand, comes with people and is compatible with the Thomas train.
Conclusion, if your 2 year old is like my son, SAVE your money, do not buy this or other duplo playsets until he/she is 3-4 years old.
Thomas Load and Carry Train Set March 25, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a great toy for 3 to 4 year olds, but I wish the set contained more tracks. It makes a very small loop. The nice thing is you can make and add other Duplo structures to this which makes each use a new set-up.
Kids love it March 11, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My two year old adores his set. The only thing that is strange is that Thomas lego has no eyebrows even though he does on the box. And I wish there were a few straight pieces to go with all the curved ones that came with it. Ohterwise, the kids have a great time playing with this and the other train duplo sets.
Awesome January 11, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My 2 year-old's little hands love taking apart and putting together the train and train tracks. My 4 year old adds on buildings with our other Legos. It will be great to add the other trains as well. This set only comes with Thomas and a few structures.
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