• Handmade from REAL WOOD

• Features real wood construction

• Magnets to attach other cars and vehicles

• The railway system is designed to grow with a child's increasing ability and creativity

• Recommended age range from 2 to 5 years

All aboard the next stop along the learning curve . . . kids three and up will enjoy the magical adventures of the ever-popular Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway System. Featuring characters from the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends video series and the Thomas and the Magic Railroad feature film now out on video, this system allows children to re-enact their favorite Thomas tales or create new adventures of their own. Besides encouraging imagination, wooden train-play helps kids develop motor and social skills. The Thomas Wooden Railway System is designed to grow along with kids' increasing skills, offering years of enjoyable play and new adventures around each and every bend.

Straight from the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad, it's Lady! Lady is a very special golden engine who holds the secret to The Magic Mountain. She's the Leading Lady of the major studio motion picture. For use with Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway System sets (sold separately).

The only problem--if you can call it that--is that you can't just buy one! Your kids will want more and more. These are the most played with toys our son has. The characters are his friends, and we tell stories with Thomas, James, Gordon, and the rest of the gang.

Lady only appears in the Thomas and the Magic Railroad movie. But she is an important character, and the kids adore her. My own three-year old son was so overcome with excitement at the sight of Lady that for a long time he couldn't watch her when she first appeared on-screen and wouldn't play with her when we initially bought him this toy. She is magical, and kids pick up on that. THIS IS AN ESSENTIAL PIECE IF YOUR CHILD HAS SEEN THE THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD MOVIE. Note that durability is an issue: the smokestack is very thin at the bottom and can easily snap off.

Purchasing recommendation:
* Choose which type of Thomas trains you will 'standardize' on. There are three kinds: This size of wooden trains from Learning Curve; larger, plastic, battery-operated trains from Tomy; and smaller, die-cast metal trains from Ertl. The wooden trains have the most products and accessories available.

* The clickety-clack (grooved to look like real railroad) track in the Thomas series is great, but it's expensive; I recommend buying generic track. ... You can literally save hundreds of dollars by buying these kinds of sets.

* Buy the Thomas and friends engines separately--and wait for sales. The kids care about the characters, so no short-cutting (ie., Brio or generic trains) here.

* Look for trains bundled with VHS videos. You can get a video and a train (on sale) for about the same price as a train alone.

10 of 11 found the following review helpful:


After Two years of use it's time for another one  Jan 28, 2004 By Mr. Bey
I was really disapointed when I found my Lady's paint chipped off in most places. We need a new one now and that's a bummer becase I have at least 70 thomas trains and most of them survived pretty well .

9 of 11 found the following review helpful:


Love these toys  Feb 07, 2002 By H. Ashasian
Can't say enough good about the Thomas trains. My husband and I just love them. I am so much happier when my son plays with these then some elctronic gizmo. He uses his imagination and reasoning and building skills. He makes different track set ups and makes up stories about the trains. They're just great and durable. The only problem is the paint does tend to wear around the corners on the most loved choo-choos. You can tell these are played with.

6 of 8 found the following review helpful:


Great for the little sister!  Jan 08, 2003
My son has an extensive thomas collection and his little sister is always "messing things up". It was his idea to buy this for her for Christmas. Now when she goes into his room to mess up his track, he gets out lady, builds her a simple circle track and lets her play with her own train next to him. It has worked like a charm....no more "mom, she's tearing up my tracks"!

3 of 4 found the following review helpful:


Truly a lady  Nov 01, 2002
This train is probably one of the best contructed of the series.
If your little one has seen the movie "Thomas and the Magic Railroad". Then "Lady" is a must have to his or her collection.
My son loves recreating scenes from the movie with Lady, Dessel, Thomas and the others.

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