About a month ago I looked at my son's Thomas & Friends wooden railway collection and I realized we weren't working our engines hard enough. We have a lot of engines, but very few cars for them to pull, which means the engines mostly run around the track pulling each other. Which is boring. So, for the sake of our little engines' entertainment, I started looking around for a good deal on freight cars.

Buying the Barrel Car
After much looking around, I decided to buy the 5-car gift pack, which comes with this Barrel Car, a Troublesome Truck (also called a Naughty Freight Car), a Milk Tanker, a Caboose, and a special Thomas the Tank Engine with a "hard at work" expression on his face. The average retail price of this set is $39.99, with the individual retail value of each piece sold separately being about $46. I was able to find the set, brand new, in it's original box from a seller on eBay for the bargain price of $22. After shipping, I spent $28 on this set, so my cost for each piece averaged to less than $6. I was pretty happy about that.

The Toy
This Barrel Car is also sold separately in stores for between $8.99 and $10.99. It is made up of a black wooden base with "Barrel Car" painted on the underside, 2 pairs of black molded plastic wheels, and a purple plastic cradle to hold the barrels. It also comes with 2 red wooden barrels that say "Oil" and "Petrol" (a reminder that the origin of this show is England) on them. The purple cradle has a raised point at either end, so that when the train goes up or down a hill, the barrels don't slide out. As with almost all the Thomas vehicles, there is a strong magnet on each end of the car.

Our Experience
When this set arrived in the mail, I tucked the other four pieces away for a later date and gave him this piece all by itself. You wouldn't think this simple little toy would elicit much excitement, all on it's own, from my son. But, this is one of the benefits of the Thomas & Friends wooden railway system. One small item at a time, we've added to my son's set, and in this way we seem to be getting the most milage and appreciation out of each individual piece. Furthermore, we've spent a lot of time looking in catalogs and talking about items he wants and might have some day. He looks forward to each new addition to his railway system, and is excited every time he gets something new. This barrel car was no different.

My son quickly figured out how to take the barrels out of the car, and to lay them back in it just right. We talked about what was in each barrel, and that the barrel car was a kind of freight car. As with all of his new vehicles, my son didn't want to put the barrel car on the tracks right away. Instead, for the first few days he carried it around in one hand while he played with the rest of his set, frequently stopping to examine the new car.

When our barrel car finally took it's rightful place on the tracks, one of the first things we discovered was that this car is a bit longer than many of the other vehicles. Since the barrel car only has 2 pairs of wheels, it has less flexibility when going around turns, and tends to derail somewhat more frequently. This doesn't seem to bother my son though. If anything, he's learning from it.

Looking to the Future
My son is too young for most of the accessories sold for the Thomas & Friends system, but there are several items that we may purchase later that will interact with this car and increase it's play value. Among these are the Barrel Loader, the Sodor Dairy Farm, and there is at least one other. These toys all involve pressing a lever and having the barrels roll down a ramp and into a barrel car. We look forward to using our barrel car this way in the future, but for now my son gets plenty of enjoyment out of his barrel car by simply pulling it behind one of his many engines.

Safety
This toy claims to be safe for children 2 and up, so I guess the barrels are not supposed to be choking hazards, but they sure do look like they are. My son never puts toys in his mouth anymore, so I felt comfortable buying this for him. Still, I don't let him take the barrels to bed with him.

FIND RELATED REVIEWS BELOW

Wooden Railway System
Annie - Thomas' Beloved Coach
Bertie the Bus
Clarabel- Thomas' Beloved Coach
Edward the Blue Engine
Gordon the Big Express Engine
Harold the Helicoptor
Henry the Green Engine
James the Red Engine
Lady
Percy the Small Engine
Rusty with Construction Cars
Thomas the Tank Engine
Tidmouth Milk Tanker
Toby the Tram Engine
Arched Stone Bridge
Single Stone Tunnel
6.5 inch Curved Switch Track
6.5 inch Curved Track
Circle Set

Books
Diesel's Devious Deed
Thomas: The Really Useful Engine

Buying Thomas
All Aboard Toys

Train Table
Nilo Train Table




Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 6.00
Type of Toy: Trains
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years