I think it's almost a rite of passage that all kids have a toy train set at some point in their lives. Max absolutely adored his wooden figure of eight one when he was little and when he outgrew it I was secretly bummed as there's nothing more relaxing than watching a train go around a track. So when Fisher Price asked if we wanted to review the Thomas & Friends Trackmaster Shipwreck Rails Set we definitely couldn't turn it down.

Even at nearly 5, Max is still a huge fan of Thomas & Friends. Whenever we head to Butlins, the Thomas show is always at the top of our schedule and we love snuggling up on the sofa watching episodes of Thomas and singing along to the theme tune (I bet you have it in your head now!).

One thing I must point out about this train set is that it's pretty big, it comes with a muddy Thomas (needs 2xAA batteries), 21 track pieces, 13 track accessories and an instruction booklet to help you put it together. I was so surprised at how easy it was to slot in place, each piece has the piece number printed on the back of it so you know that you are attaching everything together correctly, not only that but the instructions are so clear that even Scott could put them together! 

Once assembled, the track sits at 1.6m long so you need a clear amount of room. This was no problem as we set it up in Max's room and he was occupied for hours! Once setup you merely have to turn Thomas on and watch him trundle around the tracks until he reaches the wreck. This is the fun bit! He does a 360 degree spin all the way down to the bottom and then it's time for him to make his way around again. 

It was such a simple concept but one that kept him (and me) amused for ages. We made up stories and watched Thomas puff along the track for ages. It has an auto reset function which means that it will continue to go around the track until you stop it to. We absolutely adore this toy and Max has had loads of friends over to enjoy it too meaning it's definitely worth the £42.99 price label. 

It also works with the other TrackMasters series so if you have any of the other sets then the trains can work on the tracks meaning you could easily fit another train on this set for even more fun and games. 

I've attached a little Instagram Video of us playing on it so you can see how much fun it really is!