BRIO Old Steam Engine - Authentic Piston Action Toy | Ideal for Imaginative Play | Fully Compatible Wooden Railway Sets | Perfect for Ages 3+The Forest Stewardship Council

My recently turned two year old son and his new steam choo choo are totally inseparable and it's boardline obsession.He actually got this train for his birthday from his grandpa, it got some pretty heavy use before it disappeared one day. I'm pretty sure I threw it away while throwing out a room full of furniture packaging but we'll not get into all that... soooooo we decided to order a new one for him. He hadn't seen it in a few weeks and when the new one arrived in the mail, he opened the package with me and I've never seen his face glow like that before. Biggest smile you ever saw as he said "oh my gosh oh my gosh hi choo choo!".Ever since it came he won't set it down.He loves it.He takes it everywhere he goes in the house, he eats with it, tries to bath with it, although I haven't let him yet, he takes it to the store and back. In fact, I've been going threw photos lately and realizing it's in almost every picture. I included some in the review for good measure.. sometimes I don't even realize he has it with him and I look down, and there it is.He actually has a bunch of wooden and plastic trains from multiple brands of all shapes sizes and colors that fit on the wooden track system, even a battery powered one, some cars and trucks.. a fire engine!! and this one takes the cake.. I'm not completely sure why, because if I ask him, he doesn't really tell me.. but if I had to guess, it's probably the cool authentic shape, and the fact that those little rails move as you push it along like a real steam train. I'm not going to lie, I get some enjoyment watching my son push it down a downhill length of track. It's pretty neat.And at this price point, you really can't beat it. It's cheaper than those Thomas ones that don't even have moving rail things!My son takes this thing on the track but scoots it around off the track too. The magnets seem strong, they hold on to coaches and his favorite red tender that some of the cheaper engines won't hold on to, that's the brio quality though.. the magnets are always super strong.The train overall seems very sturdy as my son has been scooting this thing up down and everywhere, and of course has dropped it many a time, and not a broken piece or paint chip has shown up on the unit to date. Can't say the same for some of the other brands' engines. Especially Melissa and Doug trains seem to be the worst about paint chipping.It's also mostly wood, which is cool, because brio has been making a lot of their stuff completely out of plastic lately and it's driving me bonkers, plastic is not the quality I expect from my favorite childhood brand, who used to make stuff out of wood exclusively. For shame, brio! *Shakes fist.*. Some of the smaller parts are plastic but it is what it is, those parts would be difficult to do out of wood, parts like the cow pusher grate, and the moving rail things, and of course the wheels, etc.. however the main base and such are all wood. Honestly for this price I expected an all plastic train, and got a mostly wood one.. so I was pleasantly surprised.Cons.. there really aren't many aside from having issues feeding him because he would rather push his train around the floor than sit at the table to eat..I will say this, it handles turns pretty well, but on a long down hill stretch it always topples over on a turn at the bottom, it's a bit top heavy which compared to some of the longer brio engines, especially the ones with longer sets of wheels. If it's going down a Norma ramp at normal speed it won't topple, but a longer ramp, or if pushed a little too fast, it'll fall over. Not really a huge deal but I thought I would note it anyways.Also.. I have a couple cheap non-brio bridges that this thing has a bit of trouble freely moving through. It doesn't get stuck or anything, just requires a little extra push. The moving side rail things stick out a bit too much for those particular bridges. May be something to consider if you were planning on having a battery powered train push it around the track, may or may not work out if you have some bridges that run a bit tight on the edges.Anyways, for $10 or so, you get a really authentic looking train, with lots of cool detail, made mostly out of wood, with moving parts, and in the case of my son, a childhood companion.. which he puts to bed every night before he goes to sleep and greets in the morning before he starts the day. If you are buying this for your child, good luck getting him or her to ever put it down. It's a fight every time.

My son loves this train so much I have ordered three of them in the past (one by mistake but I kept it anyway). These trains are very strong and sturdy however my son is destructive and he can figure out how to break everything so they had to be replaced. But this is one of his favorite toys and once he breaks one he wants another one.

My son loves it!

Added these to my box of original brio track I’d saved from my son’s childhood. I got them out for my grandson and these were a wonderful expansion for it. Totally recommend! Great quality! Can’t tell the difference.

Perfect

I grew up with Brio trains and wanted to share them with my son. He loves steam trains, but not the more modern-looking diesel electrics. I bought this for him, and he absolutely loves it. The way the wheels cause the piston to move back and forth is both simple and ingenious, and it has survived (so far) all the abuse that a toddler can and will throw at his favorite toys, including a few trips down our wooden staircase. I read other reviews about the pistons binding, but that has never happened to us, and we've had the engine in daily use for at least four months now. I highly recommend it.

Brio trains are my sons favorite (and let me tell you, he's quite the connoisseur of trains)! This one is his favorite non-battery operated one, I think because it has the little moving wheel piston. That being said, what he loves about it is also what he hates about it. He's autistic and is easily frustrated when parts get stuck or don't work the way they should, and sometimes, the little piston arm on the wheels gets stuck and won't move fluidly or the wheels won't roll smoothly. I fixed it by adding the tiniest amount of WD40 to the joints of the plastic. I love that it's a quite toy that we can take to church for him to play with on the floor (as seen in the pictures). Also, as seen in the pictures, he's adds a couple "Thomas" brand magnetic cars to the back of this engine for more fun. They are very compatible. This is a very cute and quite little engine for train crazy kids. For the price, it is disappointing that I had to oil the joints, but I'm used to paying a lot for trains that disappoint and at the end of the day, he really does love this little one, so 4 stars. I did NOT receive this product for free or at a discount. Hope this helps!

I needed a simple engine for my grandson that would go with an old Brio set I had. I was worried about all the size options and negative reviews for the battery operated ones that could barely pull their own weight. This little guy was simple and not trying to be something it isn’t. :) Best of all it fits beneath the bridge tunnel as you can see in the photo. I’m very happy with this purchase and so is my grandson!