Imaginarium Power Steam Engine Set

Train is underpowered and will not follow complex track designs. It may be sufficient for a simple track setup without any ramps, sharp turns, tunnels, or bridges. The train could not be manually rolled, so combined with its inability to operate under battery power on my daughters track system, was useless and was tossed aside. I disassembled the train and removed the internal gears, so atleast she could roll it by hand.I purchased a different brand powered train and it works very well. I wholefully regret purchasing the overpriced Imaginarium train. There are much better options available.

Item broke on first day. The battery cover will not stay on. Train has a hard time staying on wooden track. It can't follow the turns.

I bought this from our local Toys r'us as an addition to a complex railway system from the same company. Although the railway tracks were sold as compatible with other brands, I did not want to risk it anyways. The $20 price tag for a four piece battery powered set looked very appealing compared to the costs of simple one piece battery engines being in the range of $15-25 from different vendors. However the item turned out to be a complete disappointment very soon.To start with, this imaginarium guys who designed it must be living in an imaginary world otherwise they would not put 2x1.5V (3V total) battery power for just sound effects and leave only 1.5 V AAA size battery power for the propulsion of the total system. The beyond 'imagination' design does not end with that. The LR44 1.5Vx2 batteries are located at the back at a very convenient spot. It is pretty unlikely that they would go flat soon and need to be replaced on the other hand, the propulsive 1.5 V AAA battery room (which may need replacement a lot) is hidden inside the engine and it took me at least 15 minutes to figure out that I need to unscrew the screw located deep inside the chimney piece to reach that compartment. Not only it is completely hidden and gave me no clues, but also it requires a pretty slim screw driver. As you get to that compartment, you notice that the power connection is maintained with 3 separate metal parts touching to their complementary areas on the other piece to be able to complete the circuit. The two metal plates located at the engine side are pretty weak and can easily be bent. Nevertheless, I managed to establish connection and got the engine running. But due to the lack of power (most AAA batteries are less than 1000mAh which offers below 40% capacity compared to the AA counterparts) the movement was pretty slow and after no more than two complete runs around the track it gave up the ghost. Initially I thought the battery had not been full to start with, however after trying with a few brand new batteries and not being able to get it running back again, I realized that the item had died not the battery.I, very quickly, packed back the item and tomorrow it is turning back to the store again. However, I want to point out that it is not the dead on arrival thing that made me give this product 2 stars. It is the beyond imagination ridiculousness and lack of convenience in the design of the item itself. I also can not understand the other reviewers who praise this item as a powerful engine. Guys, this item runs on a single 1.5 V 800-1000 mAh AAA battery which makes it the weakest battery operated train on the whole market (since all the other ones are operated with AA batteries)With this experience I can not recommend this item to anyone...

My nearly three year old son loves this train, but he runs through at least two batteries a day. It doesn't go very fast, and doesn't make sharp turns at all. We actually took the first one back to the store because we thought it was defective, since it goes through batteries so very quickly. This is our second day with the new train and I've already changed the battery three times! He hasn't been playing with it non-stop either. What's the deal Imaginarium!? I'm pretty disappointed with the quality of your toys in general. I don't think I will be purchasing anymore toys under your brandname.

We got this set at Toys R Us since it was the only wooden track engine that was battery powered at the store. It fits perfectly with the IKEA and Brio wooden tracks. The locomotive is pretty powerful, and can pull 6 to 8 Thomas trains around the track with inclines. My son is 1 1/2 and is constantly playing with it. It is now if favorite out of all his trains. The train takes two types of batteries - AAA (not included) to make the train go forward and backwards, while the LR44 (included) is needed to make the train sounds. Our train is constantly running, so we've been blowing through batteries. He's pretty hard on the engine, pushing it forward and backwards when it is not "on". We're waiting for the mechanics to give out, but it hasn't yet.