Alexigail Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Hi Everyone- My son is outgrowing his Thomas trains and we'd like to get him started on model trains. The problem is I have no idea what to get. He's five but we want something he can "grow into". I read this article: http://modeltrains.about.com/od/toytrainsforchildren/tp/parents_guide.htm which suggests that a five year old can use an electric train with adult supervision. We will be supervising him, but I do want something that he can put together himself and then run with our help. He's does very well with fine motor skills, but of course he is still little. Does anyone have a recommendation for me for a starter set? We're not looking for toy trains like Geotrax or Thomas products. I've thought about Lego trains but I don't know anyone who has them or if this is the way to go. Thanks! Edit: We are looking to spend about $200 to begin with and then add on as we can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatHomeschoolDad Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Consider size of the actual trains in terrms of manual dexterity. O guage is bigger, and prob better for that age. 200 bucks will get you a basic set new, or maybe more on ebay. HO is way smaller, and might be too finicky for little kids....but every kid is different. OTOH, there seems to be way more stuff at the HO scale, from models to trees to cars. It's endless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 We went with HO and it worked well. Price wise it was good and most of his friends also had HO so they could enjoy taking trains to run on a friend's track. T The very best thing we found was a train club! There are two within an hour of us- one very close and NOT child friendly and the other an hour away but VERY open to kids. They had a FABULOUS layout and they used HO scale trains but with electronic controllers- wireless- and everyone could run their trains at the same time. Oh my gosh, was that ever a good thing for ds. Adult men teaching him etiquette, history, building skills, etc. It was awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 We have model trains both HO and O. If you have the space I would go with an O set. If you set it up to leave it up, you will want to tack the track town so that it doesn't keep coming apart. I would look to buy something older, you can often find deals on craigslist and e-bay if you aren't looking for a specific set. Our trains are from the 1940's through the 1970's mostly Lionel and they are better built than most that you can buy new today. My 3 year old loves them and can set them on the track by herself. She has good fine motor skills and is pretty patient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Consider size of the actual trains in terrms of manual dexterity. O guage is bigger, and prob better for that age. 200 bucks will get you a basic set new, or maybe more on ebay. HO is way smaller, and might be too finicky for little kids....but every kid is different. OTOH, there seems to be way more stuff at the HO scale, from models to trees to cars. It's endless. HomeschoolDad is spot on here. We have lots of electric trains from the boys younger years and for a 5 year old, I do really think O scale is the best. HO has many more options, but it's much more delicate and the track is less sturdy. O scale is kind of rugged in comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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