Where do Thomas the Train and friends live?
Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set
Thomas the train has been a longstanding favorite of young children for generations.
Thomas is a tank engine who lives with his friends on the island of Sodor.Toddlers are engaged by the adventures he has with his friends.
Thomas’ engine friends include:
James - a “medium sized“ engine with a red livery. He sometimes has grandiose ideas about which work is suitable for him.
Henry - a passenger locomotive with traits of hypochondria.
Gordon – he’s painted blue like Thomas and is the senior engine.
All of these engines live in the Roundhouse under the watchful eye of the Fat Controller.
Boys always love train sets.
A really useful engine is always popular
Train sets are a fun, creative and educational toy for toddlers.
A set that is themed to one of their favorite characters has additional appeal.
Young children can re-enact the stories they have listened to or watched, on their own Thomas the Train set.
The roundhouse features in many of the tales of Thomas as it is where he and his friends live.
These toys provide additional material for your toddlers’ imaginative play as well as offering a place to store their Thomas toys.
Train sets like these are sure to generate lots of conversation and the use of new vocabulary.
What to look for.
- You can be sure that your son’s train set will be a favorite toy for many years. As he grows he will develop his play and the imaginative adventures he has with this toy.
Safety Warning
Make it last
If you have younger children you may wish to glue the track down to a surface to avoid the set being regularly dismantled.
Also, watch out for smaller working pieces which could be swallowed.
- Toddlers enjoy breaking up their track just as much as assembling it – if not more. Thomas and his friends often have accidents and crashes. You can be sure these toys will get a great deal of wear.
- It’s important therefore when selecting your set and the Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set, in particular, that you look for toys of good design and quality of material.
A British Institution!
Thomas the Tank Engine originates in stories, written by a Christian minister, the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry. He started the stories to amuse his son, Christopher, whilst he had the measles.
The original British TV series was narrated by Ringo Starr of The Beatles!
If you ever have the opportunity to visit England, there are working steam railway centres that you can visit, such as Didcot in Oxfordshire, where they run 'Days out with Thomas' based around their life size working replicas of some of the character engines.
Here are the Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set toys we have reviewed...
Thomas
& Friends Sodor Roundhouse - by Tomy
This is a smaller, plastic Roundhouse set that has 5 separate engine sheds which connect to a working turntable to send the engines out to work on the railway.
It does not come with any engines.
This toy is a working Roundhouse unit for those on a budget, but you would need to buy matching plastic track (mostly compatible with Tomy plastic tracks) and trains to make a full train set.
Priced around $18. See
these Thomas the Train Roundhouse Sets
Play Idea
Family Days Out
If you have a local railway museum or model railway, why not take the kids for a fun day out and see the trains?
You and your toddler can then talk about what you saw and develop new play ideas for their Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set.
Boys can’t fail to be excited by trains.
Thomas
the Tank Engine Work 'n Play Roundhouse
This is a plastic set, which packs into a carry box - for fun on the go.
It includes a Roundhouse building, one loop of track and Thomas the Train. There is storage space for up to seven engines.
This is a fun Thomas set for the younger child and ideal for traveling.
Expect to pay around $20. Check
out these Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set
Thomas the Tank Engine Roundhouse Set - by Learning Curve
A full wooden train set with storage seat.
This Roundhouse set comes in a large decorative wooden storage box with a cushioned child seat, and is perfect for encouraging your child to tidy toys away ready to sit down on Thomas for story time!
The set includes Thomas, Henry and Bertie engines, as well as other vehicles (Rusty construction car, Duke with coal car, Sodor caboose and Skarloey) and has a great variety of working features, including turntable, Stop&Go station, Overhead track signal, Sodor Bay bridge, covered bridge, water tower, trees, signs, and signals.
It also includes figurines of the Fat Controller and an engineer.
There is so much in this set that you could try starting out with the basic pieces, and then gradually add the other accessories one at a time to generate new interest in this toy.
Another feature is that the track pieces can be reversed and used as a road instead of rails.
This is a well made,
durable and versatile set, which will grow with your child. It
justifies the price tag of around $380. Look at these Thomas the Train Roundhouse Sets
This review of Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set
was written by ..
Elizabeth Wills
- Student of Early Childhood who loves messy toys
Is there an alternative to Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set ?
You'll find some interesting alternatives to Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set in our review of Ride on Train toys or you may select another toy category from the sidebar.
Or for something completely different ..
101-Piece Deluxe Train Set - by KidKraft
This is a full train set on it's own play table with 2 drawers underneath for storage of spare accessories and components.
It comes with a variety of tracks, struts for building bridges, trains, cars, trees and buildings.
Accessories include a grey, plastic mountain on which to explore and build new track, a train station, a terminal, and a crane.
This is a great alternative to the Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set. It’s compact and tidy and includes a great variety of accessories.
Priced around $90
See something different from Thomas the Train Roundhouse Set
