BRIO - something completely different!

[Malton Seadog]

Hi all,

 

I hope this is permitted in this forum! I'm currently building a small Brio set for my 2 year old's birthday, and I'm infuriating myself by changing track plans every few hours!

 

Many people have said "don't stick it down", but he has a huge box of track as well as this board. I wanted this board to be something a bit more permanent to go alongside the loose, different-every-time spare track.

 

So - I have added a couple of images, and would appreciate any comments as to how to improve either ideas, or even draw up a fresh plan if you're really, really bored.

 

I'm an amateur modeller myself, and I normally go for the "less is more" approach, but this is for a 2-year old. As such, I'd like as many routes/loops/bridges etc. as possible to keep him entertained. I'd also like a small open space (visible in both designs) to add in some small roads and small Brio buildings/trees that I have. 

 

Many thanks - and mods: apologies if this is not permitted on this forum.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Malton Seadog

[Philou]

Oooooh! That looks fun! Didn't know they did a turntable either. I think the second is better as it has lots of loops for interest - but - it seems it's mostly uni-directional. For example, if you leave the engine shed and follow any of the routes you cannot get back to it without reversing, whereas the first one has two reverse loops so can get back to where you came from in the opposite direction - but there again he's only two!

 

Good luck and have fun .

 

Philip

[burgundy]

Don't stick it down whatever you do!

Your 2 year old will rapidly start coming up with track arrangements of his own. They will be completely different to your ideas, but they will be his own work and will engage him at least as much as running trains.

Best wishes

Eric   

[DCB]

There is no catch point on the turntable road!   However seriously 20 odd years ago I had a load of this for my son and found it necessary to make up some non standard track pieces by drilling and sawing to make new sockets and less successfully making up new balls for the "Plugs"   Some of your tracks are not quite "True" and could benefit from slightly shorter straights in places.

[ColinK]

Would Tacky Wax hold the track in place but allow it to be removed?

[woodenhead]

Don't stick it down, you are stifling your 2 year old's creativity by imposing your own ideas of what is right.

 

Brio is a creative toy like lego

[imt]

I'm one of the "don't stick it downs" too.  You say there is a box full of "spare" track too. If you want a sort of central "starter for ten" why not stick only some of it down (say the loco shed and turntable with a loop of track and a passing place) but make sure there is an outer ring with exit/entry points so he can play with the board easily - but be encouraged to spread his wings and design some more of his own?  Tacky Wax is good but it won't hold against a child pulling.

[EKR]

Please don’t stick it down or they will lose interest quite quickly.

Just get a couple of large plastic tubs and put track in one, vehicles and fixtures in another.

The childs greatest joy will be in creating their own worlds around chair legs, under tables, across landings and into other rooms.

 

Also bigjigs items are interchangeable with brio.

[flockandroll]

When your son starts to make longer trains (I won’t call them “scale length”) you may well find that the sharper inner curves will cause constant derailments, as will S curves of the larger radius. My son was four when this started to happen, and he found it very frustrating indeed. The solution was to buy lots of the larger radius curves, and remembering to put a small straight between any S curves.

I too would say don’t glue them down, unless you know that will work for your son.

[NittenDormer]

My son has the Big Jigs stuff, he is constantly taking it up and relaying. Hours of fun for him. I suspect he will be quite disappointed that my layout will be stuck down and non-changing.

[Corbs]

What about sticking down 2 or 3 key buildings/pieces of track, and then part of the fun is linking them all together in new ways?

[Norm81]

We have way more of this than we have space for, so can create endless track diagrams. I usually lay one complete circuit then let him do the rest, or take a section he's put together and make it into something (he's only 2).

 

The mothercare/elc and ikea versions are also compatible. Asda have started selling green carriages that are compatible for £2 each which is reasonable I think.

 

I also agree with the sharper radius curves as we regularly end up with one long 10+ item (Thomas is sometimes in the middle!) train that would derail on them. It helps if you alternate them with the larger radius curves, that eases the curve quite a bit. Ours starts off on a rug so I can see me having to make a shallow ramp piece or two to get over the ~10mm height difference, it's just enough for the track joins to end up sticking up just too far.

 

Big jigs do a lot of interesting accessories, we have one that's a firefighting ship that fits reversed in between two barriers, that you can drive a wagon (it's supposed to be a water tanker) onto the back of the ship, then "drive" the ship away. They also do a Mallard (it's only a 4-6-0 though) and all trains come with a bit of track and a buffer stop.

 

We, I mean I, am on the lookout for some sort of turntable and roundhouse. To be honest it's the only railway time I get right now, or Thomas on TV/DVD.

 

I had thought about knocking up the track plan for my layout in wooden railway, as then I could have a go at all the movements and see how well it works!

[Steve O.]

Hi, it’s all good fun.

Adding to the cautionary notes... motorized 6-wheel Duck and Spencer don’t like the tight Y points and will get stuck.

It’s a bit like avoiding Hornby R1.

Edited May 11, 2018 by Steve O.

[phil-b259]

The mothercare/elc and ikea versions are also compatible.

 

I was led to believe that just as with Ikeas beds (and no doubt quite a few other things they make), Ikea's wooden train stuff has a slightly different sized slot / tab to everyone elses products. It all looks the same when seen separately but isn't when examined together one on top of the other.

Edited May 11, 2018 by phil-b259

[Compound2632]

We, I mean I, am on the lookout for some sort of turntable and roundhouse. 

 

We had a turntable and a two-road straight shed, if memory serves. Possibly Tesco, c. 15 years ago.

 

My very old Triang tunnels also saw service.

Edited May 11, 2018 by Compound2632

[Norm81]

I was led to believe that just as with Ikeas beds (and no doubt quite a few other things they make), Ikea's wooden train stuff has a slightly different sized slot / tab to everyone elses products. It all looks the same when seen separately but isn't when examined together one on top of the other.

Our ikea turntable fits to the big jigs/brio/mothercare items. The older ikea with plastic pegs to join doesn't fit, but the current does.

[Dorkingian]

The Ikea stuff is pretty good

 

We've just bought some items from Ikea's Lillabo range.  There's a figure of eight layout which includes an overbridge and a three vehicle push-along train.  We also bought a train set of three wagons each with two demountable tops.  But the real killer is the battery powered locomotive (two AAs); this costs £7 and, being very low geared and with good adhesion, can pull half a dozen other vehicles behind it, even successfully climbing the hill to the overbridge - and it has headlights which increase its fascination for young and old.  Grandson (and grandfather) love it.

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by Dorkingian
clarification, and correcting price

[JohnDMJ]

Looking to the next step, consider https://www.maerklin.de/en/products/my-world/

[TonyMay]

Brio really hates reverse curves, so they're best avoided.

[Stuart A]

Wooden trains can become quite addictive, as long as you've got an excuse of younger people that they are really for......