Train track recommendations

[mumofone]

Looking for a nice wooden train track set...any recommendations? Which ones are good?

[loocyloo]

I have a combination of brio/tesco/ikea/elc. Wilinsons sell bits of train track and there is an online company called bigjigs that does lots of different parts and trains at sensible prices.
It's helpful to have alot of small double ended pieces so your tracks work! And I avoid bridges or anything that need balancing on wooden bricks ... as without gluing them on, they always get knocked off by enthusiastic children! (And once glued; hard to store!)

[FloraDora]

When my boys were growing up the best track was Brio - but I have purchased the ikea track plus extra pack and train and it works a treat. Sometimes you are tempted to keeping buying bits for train tracks by I find a small one which the children can put together themselves quickly whilst the incentive and interst is there is best and satisfies without taking up too much room, sometimes when I was at school you would take so long to put the track up the interest had gone sometimes as we had a huge one and the children expected you to use every last piece, but got fed up of waiting!

Last summer DH made an out door track with the basis of natural scenery. The track was engraved on so the children just matched the pieces over the top and then I put out natural loose resources and they added to the areas DH had glued in place...worked well as we could have a bigger track and the open trucks were filled with soil, sand etc.. I don't usually bring indoor toys out unless we are out all day on a lovely day but this set up made the most of outdoors and they could incorporate the outdoor world in their play, once the train got stuck because there was a mud slide and diggers had to rescue - a storyline from Thomas the tank but because they were a outdoors amongst soil they could reinact it in a way they wouldn't be able to do indoors.

[tulip0803]

I have loads of different tracks from different places from all my children - back to DS who is now 23 (he got brio, the others got Tesco/elc/. Just bought some 2nd hand off ebay mainly because it came with loads of trains/carriages which saves argument. All the tracks are compatible.

The older ones like to make one huge track but with LOs it is better for them to have smaller tracks or a small track each.

[TinyTinker]

I find tesco sets are great - and you can buy extra engines and carriages etc from wilkos individually that fit on the track too!