Our Thomas Train Table

My son Joseph became interested in Thomas the tank engine trains at just under one year old. We started out with a few wooden trains and one or two diecast metal portable train sets. The first wooden train set that I bought him was the simple circular conductor set with the circus cars. At first I set it up on the floor, and then I put it on top of a box, and then on a coffee table.

After we saw how much he played with these toys, and after he could consistently walk without falling down all the time (sharp corners) we looked into getting him a train table. We live on a small island where everything is more expensive and a train table and set would have cost us almost $600. So, we went on to the Internet to look into other ways of getting one. We found a site that provided plans to train tables and my husband decided to build one for our son.

We ordered the plans, got them immediately, and looked them over. We don't have a table saw so we thought about having a friend cut the wood for us, but then eventually decided to ask the the lumber company we bought the wood from to cut the wood for us. It took a little longer but they didn't charge us for cutting it.

Once my husband had the wood home and only took one day to build the train table, and another day to paint it He has never been a big woodworker, so he didn't have a whole lot of experience, but the plans were very detailed and easy to follow so he had no problems. We painted the table just a straight brown but if we build another one we might try trees and rivers and scenery.

We used a Down by the Docks set, plus a few spare bridges and track we had lying around. We debated for a while whether we would glue it down or tack it down or nail it down -- or not secure it at all. In the end we glued it down and I'm glad we did because track that isn't glued down has a tendency to slide off the table or fall over. Plus, track that is glued down to a train tables is always ready to play with.

So, this train table that cost very little to make is by far Joe's favorite toy. He plays with it everyday, and would play with it for hours and hours if he had the time. We plan on making him another table for Christmas or his birthday (they are pretty close), and it will go right next to the first one. The train tables to take up a lot of room so we had to move ours out of the house into the enclosed garage.

glue question received via email:
You mentioned that you glued your track to your table. What kind of glue did you use? Did you have any problems with the raised track staying together when glued? Also, it appears that you reconfigured your set, was it difficult to get the track up since it was glued down?

We are planning on getting a set for our 2 year old, but I want to glue it down so that it is always ready to play with. Thanks for your input!

my answer My husband used gorilla glue. He said just follow the directions on the tube, weight the track down while it's drying, and scrape off any excess glue with an exacto knife. Apparently the glue expands so don't use too much. All raised track stays together fine - just put a riser underneath every 'joint' between two raised tracks and glue it to the riser. Actually, we never did reconfigure the set - I don't think most of it would come up at all without a chisel and without bringing the paint up with it.

Yeah, I've heard that older kids like to put the track together different ways, but my 2.5 year old likes it the way it is and would probably be more frustrated than anything.