Handmade Station for Thomas the Tank Engine Wooden Train Set

Any parent that has a little one who enjoys Thomas the Tank Engine knows how expensive the playsets can be be, easily reaching $60-$80. However if you have or have access to a basic shop and common supplies you can build your own in an afternoon.

I believe most official Thomas parts are built of maple, and if you have some laying around you can certainly use it as it doesn't tend to sliver and is very durable, but can be a bit pricey and it's a shame to cover such nice wood with paint. I have chosen Basswood for the project as it is light, inexpensive, easy to work with and it does not give slivers, so is safe for little hands. (And I had some lying around).

This station would work with most wooden train tracks of this scale: Plan Toys, Melissa & Doug, Brio, Ikea all use the same gauge track and connectors.

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Step 1: Tools and Materials

The tools required for this project:
     Drill press
     Drill Bits - 1/4" and 1/2"
     Table saw
     Sandpaper (Medium fine works well - 100 or 120 grit)
     Square
     Clamps
     Scroll, Jig or Band saw, whichever you prefer...or a coping saw if you are oldschool.

Materials needed for this project:
     Basswood 48" x 5" x 0.5" (about $5 at your local craft shop)
     1/4" dowel 4" long (the small wood pegs from Ikea furniture work well, if you have any leftovers)
     1/2" dowel 2" long (I used the handle from a cheap foam paintbrush)
     Acrylic Paint and Varnish
     Paintbrushes
     Sharpie Markers (thick and thin)
     Wood glue
     Brown paper bag

I found it really useful to have a piece of standard track for setting up the saws and testing sizes. If you are making this toy for somebody else and don't have track pieces laying around, you can pick one up at most good toy stores for under $2.

estephens2 says: Nov 11, 2012. 3:13 PM

I love the design and the details are superbly done. It's easy to forget the scale of the you're work piece. Those individual bricks are tiny. Wonderful!

Kozz says: Apr 8, 2010. 10:11 AM

Bravo! Well done. I think this Instructable is worth it JUST for the little male-male connectors. My boys have track segments from various manufacturers, and some of them have male connectors which are glued into the track, which they break or pull out and lose. I'd love to see an Instructable on damaged-track repair, too. :)

snoyes in reply to KozzDec 8, 2010. 1:30 PM

I second this ^. The track connector is all that has kept me from making a set of tracks for my own kids. I'd seen some ideas to drill a hole in the end and glue in a dowel and glue a wooden ball onto that, but I never even thought about making it a completely separate piece. This is brilliant.

Crozier (author) in reply to KozzOct 22, 2010. 9:31 AM

Thanks for your comment. I have made some sections of track and have made one end using the female connector on one end and then just boring a 3/16" hole in the other end and then gluing one half of one of the male-male connector into that. Its very easy to fabricate and it has stood up as well as any of the factory made ones. I haven't had any of our factory track break (yet) but I'll do an instructable if it ever happens.