msmorvay's Full Review: Learning Curve Toys Learning Curve Take Along Thom...
After we scheduled our vacation I told my son he could pick out a Thomas the Tank set to bring on vacation with us. I knew we would be doing a lot during the days but would be back at the house we rented in the evenings so I wanted him to have something new and interesting for him to play with so we went to Toys R Us. I wanted to spend under $30.00 so I pointed out which sets he could pick from. He chose the Take Along Thomas and Friends Coal Loader. I thought it was a pretty neat choice myself.
Take Along Thomas and Friends Coal Loader
Take Along Thomas and Friends Coal Loader is a obviously a Thomas and Friends play set. It has a coal loader which I will explain in a moment, and a Sodor Coal Company Building. The set also comes with a small track, two loads of coal and a little train to place the coal in that goes around the track.
The track is not large it less then two feet long and is oval shaped. The track is plastic and snaps together. The track goes underneath the Coal Company building. The track also goes under part of the coal loader.
The little train that is included is a small orange die-cast train. It has a magnet on the back side of it so that it can be hooked up to other magnetic die cast trains, and possibly some of the wooden ones with magnets. The little bundles of coal go inside the train.
The Coal Company building actually doubles as a carrying case for the tracks. The back of the building opens up to accommodate all of the tracks. They are a bit difficult to get in there but if you place all the tracks in just right they will fit. The building is tan and has windows at the front of it. It is also up on risers, and the track goes underneath down where the risers are.
The coal loader itself is orange with a black conveyor belt. There is a little crank on the side that causes the conveyor belt to move. When you place the coal bundles on the conveyor belt you can make them go up and down depending on how you turn the crank.
While the tracks fit inside the building the coal loader is a completely separate piece. This made the set a bit of a challenge to pack. But I don't think that will be a big concern for most people who would buy this.
The set cost just $19.99 which I thought was really reasonable for everything that you get with it. The set goes along with other Learning Curve sets, the tracks all fit together, and the magnetic trains can all be joined together. So this is part of an expensive Thomas and Friends train collection. Since it is not very expensive it is an excellent starter piece for a beginning Thomas Collector.
Thoughts and Experience
So far we have no complaints with the set. My son absolutely loves it. He loves playing with the coal loader. He loves to put other things on it as well and likes to load up any of his trains that have room for cargo in them. He has already hooked up the tracks to his other tracks and the coal building and loader are now part of his Thomas community.
The whole set is not very big and does not take up a lot of space in the toy box. I also know it is durable because it was shoved in to a suitcase and packed in the car with other suitcases on top of it and it did not break or chip or show any other signs of damage.
It is well worth the money that we paid for it and even if my son didn't have a lot of other trains this set would keep him busy all on its own.
If you have a child who is in to Thomas and Friends you know that some of the sets can be really, really expensive. This one is really a bargain for the price and I highly recommend it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 19.99 Type of Toy: Trains
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
Exclusive coal-dusted track Interactive lever loads coal Stores up to 7 vehicles Handle for easy portability Recommended Age Range 3 to 5 Years, Recom...More at Amazon Marketplace
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