# Do all train sets fit all other train sets?



## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

We're going with a train set for christmas, and I'm looking to get most of it as cheap as possible, but with the option for including parts (trains, bridges, etc) from more expensive brands in the future.

So far I've seen IKEA, Brio, Thomas and some other cheapo brand I can't remember.

Are they all interchangeable, are there any brands to avoid as far as interchangeability?


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## Ms. B. Sprout (Nov 30, 2006)

Anyone?


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## pellifoli (Feb 12, 2005)

so far it seems that many of them are interchangeable...we started with a small Brio set (circular track w/engine & car carrier) and added some track, bridges and some other cars from a company called Timber something but they're actually owned by Haba, and in looking at other trains & accessories, they seem like they work together.


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## veggiemomma (Oct 21, 2004)

Umm...IME, no, they are not interchangeable. Kid Connection (the dreaded Wal-Mart brand) do work semi-well with Thomas tracks, but there will be some peices that still will NOT go together. I have no experience with Ikea or Brio, so I can not speak to those.


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## the_lissa (Oct 30, 2004)

Most that we have tried work together.


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## newbie_mary (Nov 29, 2005)

On the box, the IKEA one says it works with most other sets. Don't know from experience though.


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## alysonb (Mar 15, 2006)

We're going to buy ds a set by Maxim off of Amazon. We can buy a massive set with tons of track, bridges, buildings,etc. for under $100 with free shipping. Then we'll just buy the trains separately. I've found the trains all seem to work on different wood track the same. I got a cheap wood set with the train table from WAlmart and it fit fine with my Plan Toys/ Brio buildings.


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Drat. Someone was supposed to post a nice cross-referenced table of what does and doesn't work together.


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## limabean (Aug 31, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wannabe* 
Drat. Someone was supposed to post a nice cross-referenced table of what does and doesn't work together.











I've found that even the various Thomas sets don't work with each other. The Wooden Railway set doesn't work with the Take Along set, which doesn't work with the motorized set, etc., even though they're all Thomas. It's frustrating!


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## Robert Goodman (Mar 13, 2006)

With model railroads there are certain standard gauges. From large to small:

super O
O
HO (half O)
N or microgauge
But there are others. Sometimes a track gauge is further specified by the curvature of its curved segments; so O27 is O gauge with a circle radius of 27".

Robert


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## onemoremom (Jun 8, 2007)

IME brio matches with target brand. I love that because Brio is not so character-ish as some other sets, lol, and target has good prices to fill in gaps or add to your set. We've been very happy with this combination. They do NOT fit together with thomas. Haven't tried any other brands. HTH


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## littlehoneybee (Jun 20, 2005)

Hmm, we bought Brio at an independent toy store precisely because it was cheaper and because they told us it fit with Thomas (which we already had). So far, the Thomas and Brio fit perfectly together for us.


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## onemoremom (Jun 8, 2007)

Funny. But then, someone said not even all thomas fit together well so maybe we tried different thomas lines


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## gretelmom (Jun 22, 2005)

All I know is that Thomas tracks don't interchange with Plan Toys tracks... But all the cars/trains/trucks do interchange.


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## arniflora (Oct 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *limabean* 







've found that even the various Thomas sets don't work with each other. The Wooden Railway set doesn't work with the Take Along set, which doesn't work with the motorized set, etc., even though they're all Thomas. It's frustrating!


These are totally different TYPES of trains - some are wooden, some are plastic, some are metal. They are not intended to work together! From their marketing pov, you need to buy all the different kinds so you can have ALL the Thomas toys!









If you are looking for WOODEN train sets, most do interchange. We have a Melissa & Doug train track which I would NOT recommend - poorly crafted. If I could start over I'd get Maxim as a base and fill in with the Thomas parts as needed.


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## delphiniumpansy (Mar 1, 2007)

Our Brio and Thomas sets interchange but the cheapo turntable and roundhouse I got do not fit the larger engines. Only the small engines get to go in and not with their tenders.







:


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## hubris (Mar 8, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Robert Goodman* 
With model railroads there are certain standard gauges.

I believe that information applies to model railroads (electric railroads) and not to wooden train sets, which is what the OP is asking about.

Ikea, Maxim, Thomas, and Brio are all compatible. I believe the actual term is "Brio-compatible," since Brio was the first popular train set and the other have followed their standard.









Most of our pieces are from Maxim, which costs about half as much as the pricier Brio/Thomas sets. It's nice and basic, and sturdy. I've never seen Maxim sets in a brick and mortar store. I bought our basic set on eBay and added to it with pieces from kindertrains.com.


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## NicaG (Jun 16, 2006)

Ikea sets do not mix well with Brio, even though Ikea says they're compatible with all. You can sort of jam the pieces together, but they don't fit perfectly, and it's hard to take them apart again. I think the Ikea jigsaw bumps are bigger than Brio's.


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## CawMama (Nov 4, 2005)

Whittle Shortline's trains work on Thomas and Brio tracks. If you are ordering for Christmas, you might want to order early. They say that they are never going to meet their demand this year, which is good news! Also, they are US made...


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## Throkmorton (Jun 30, 2003)

I have found that the Ikea sets do not work well with Brio/Imaginarium/Thomas well at all. Otherwise, yep. All compatible. The trains are interchangeable.

Luckily, DS has a multitude of tracks, so week keep all the Ikea in the playroom and all the other stuff in his room for when he doesn't want to share.


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## Gumbi (Jul 11, 2003)

Our Ikea sets do not work well with out Maxim set or Thomas stuff that we have...GO WITH MAXIM!! They will click together, but as someone said, ya gotta jam them...and the battery operated engines (we have Lady) do not go on the tracks...they are just a smidge too wide in the middle.
Great Christmas present choice...we have a lot of miles on our tracks!!


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

I'm glad I asked before I bought IKEA! Sounds like Maxim is the way to go for the basic startup tracks.

Quote:

Great Christmas present choice...we have a lot of miles on our tracks!!
Yeah, she LOVES the train tables in bookshops and other places (and so do I). And it's a great add-on thing, too. For Christmases and birthdays for years she can get more wooden trains and accessories from the various childless aunts and uncles who have trouble with what to get her.


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## Robert Goodman (Mar 13, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hubris* 
I believe that information applies to model railroads (electric railroads) and not to wooden train sets, which is what the OP is asking about.

All I saw were brand names, so I didn't know, sorry. I had various different kinds, including hand-me-downs: mostly-wood, mostly-metal, and mostly-plastic. The mostly-wooden ones, whose parts (cars & grooved track) had metal snaps in one case, but were interlocking all-wood tracks in others, weren't really model trains but just push toys for the youngest. The crudest and largest were the ones we had in our kindergarten; not sure we even had trains for them, just tracks.

People arbitrarily referred only to the model, mostly-metal ones as "electric trains" which ran off an AC transformer, and for some reason didn't consider the mostly-plastic Marx model ones, which were battery powered, "electric". (Actually that was a general statement for toys then, by which ones you plugged in were called "electric" and battery powered ones not.) Although you could not connect the plastic Marx track to metal tracks, the trains were made to the same super O gauge IIRC and theoretically you could run the Marx trains on the metal tracks of an "electric train" set if it was super O.

Do they still have wind-up trains? I don't recall having those, but was aware of them.

Robert


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## ecoteat (Mar 3, 2006)

I'm glad to find this thread. I just bought $175 worth of Brio track odds and ends for $20 today!







But bow we need to get some other stuff to make it all work and now I know what to look for (and what NOT to look for--too bad IKEA's not a good fit!).


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