Big Thumbs Up for the RC Thomas Set

that is a great set for the young ones ,,

Our hairdresser's 2-year-old grandson is having a ball with his. He can't say, "Remote," so he asks for "the emote"; "where's my emote?"

I agree remote Thomas is great.  We set it up around the tree with about twice as much track and one set of switches to create some fun.  56 month old granddaughter has no problem with the remote or putting the cars back ont he track, but has trouble with the coupler.  Thrirty-three month old grandson can operate the remote fine. 

AQfter three days of twelve hour operation with Thomas and four cars (I have three remote Thomas sets and I used Clarabel and Annie from two of them) I have three couplers on the cars that have gone bad: they lock into place but loose, so they lose grip and slip loose, just barely but completely, the first time they enter the 36" curves.  I thought maybe the kids and had caused the first failure but now I am not so sure.  with their fixed axles and wide swinging couplers I think they might just give trouble.  Regardless, the main pain here is that adults are required every time a car leaves the track with "real" couplers.

After my grandkids and their parents leave tomorrow, I am going to engineer some magnetic couplers for these trains that three year olds can operate, like on the Learning Curve Thomas and Friends trains.

Will the remote operate any conventional loco?

I agree - it's a nice set, especially for the price.  It easily pulled another 4 cars in addition to the 2 that came with it. Our 5 year old granddaughter had a lot of fun with it over the holidays.

Jim

my 3 1/2 year old granddaughter and 2 3/4 year old grandson each received a set and each operating with no problem and loving it.

"I am going to engineer some magnetic couplers for these trains that three year olds can operate, like on the Learning Curve Thomas and Friends trains"

lee, be prepared to fabricate and sell this mod.

I posted the results of my tests of various methods and what worked best.  I finished converting mine and put them away for next holiday season.  I really think Lionel would do well to convert to magnetic couplers for the RC Thomas and Friends series, but i imagine they will not.

http://www.toysrus.com/product...p?productId=11845020

If you like the Thomas remote set you might want to add Cranky the Crane remote control, similar to Lionel remote and has sounds.

ON SALE FOR $20 at Toys R Us right now!!!!

It is 29" high; towers over Thomas perfect size.

Has great sounds and one button push to return to middle lifting height.

Also comes with a loop of track and battery operated fire truck from Thomas theme.

Hmmm...for $20 I'm thinking that crane could be put to use on my own layout.

Here's a shot of me and my 3 year-old twin grandsons enjoying their Thomas set!

Problem I have is he wants to run James and Percy with the same remote.

Hopefully Lionel makes the others available.

Jim

With any luck, Percy should be available later this year. The Lionel shipping schedule  currently shows them for August delivery. It also lists James for shipping at the same time, but as it also shows an earlier original date, it may not be a remote version.

My only concern with this set is the 100% dependence on the remote.  Ours has survived so far, but what's Lionel's back-up plan when a little kids loses it, steps on it, or decides to see if it floats?

I hope they sell additional remotes in time, as this is bound to happen.  I checked some time back and the remote was not listed on their parts list as something you can buy.  That is probably an oversight they may have or will fix in time.

I gave my Grandson [3 1/2 years old] one for Christmas and was hopeing to get a layout up but time hasn't permitted. We finally set it up under the dinning room table last night to try it out. Well he didn't want to go to bed but Dad promised to set it up again to use today. The other issue, when are Percy and James going to be available? Said I didn't know, but there coming.

Rixster: love the picture.

There is another post of someone that was having alot of problems with the set; they must of gotten one of the VERY FEW lemons out there.

Cute and for $16 how could you go wrong? Too bad Cranky is out of stock for a 180 mile radius of my house.

redball342 said:

"There is another post of someone that was having alot of problems with the set; they must of gotten one of the VERY FEW lemons out there."

Some months back, when they had just come out, I posted both the problem and the solution.  I bought three of the first five my LHS received - all out of the first batch Lionel shipped. Two of my three had crimped power connector on the main board, which was easy to fix once identified.  Someone else reported the same problem on theirs, on another Thomas thread about the same time.  I think the issue is cleared up by now.  Regardless, the two of the three I still have (the third was used up in an experiment) seem bulletproof now, after the repair.

I did notice on both Thomas's we ran over the holidays that Thomas's wheels seem to pick up grime more quickly than most of my other locos and need to be cleaned frequently.  Not sure if that is because the the type of materials used or what, but Thomas and my new Lionel D&RG shifter both ran about as long over the holidays on our around the tree loops but Thomas got cranky and had to have his wheels cleaned twice, whereas the shifter came out after it all with gleaming wheels.

quote:

I did notice on both Thomas's we ran over the holidays that Thomas's wheels seem to pick up grime more quickly than most of my other locos and need to be cleaned frequently.  Not sure if that is because...

... of the simple green fog still floating around in my house or not...