# Best cars for kids to play with



## Chata86 (Dec 5, 2010)

What are the best cars for kids to play with? They like to load passengers and haul them around to various stations they've placed around the track. The coal car (without load) 4076 seems pretty good. Maybe some other cars I should be looking at too?

Thanks!


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

My son (3) likes to load the cars, too. His favorite car to push around the railroad is the aristo snow plow. However, he likes to put stuff in the boxcars, gondolas and just about anything else that opens. We had fun loading our hopper and gondola cars last summer with pine cones and sticks. 

4076 is the LGB hopper, right?


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## jmill24 (Jan 11, 2008)

My grandkids like cars with platforms, ladders and hand rails so they can hang on some of their favorite toy people like a caboose or tender..........Jim


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

My kid's favorite car is an AMS gon, they can fill it up with just about anything! They like the flat car, but things tend to fall off, and cause derailments, and my 5 year old son becomes VERY upset when anything derails. I think that came from reading Toodles... 

Robert


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## Chata86 (Dec 5, 2010)

Yeah 4076 is the hoppper that comes with little beads to drop out the bottom. I don't open that package since the kids would have a LOT of fun with that 

The gondolas look like a good choice. I think I've seen people running those at shows with stuffed animals. Boxcar, not so much since when the cars have doors the kids tend to derail them.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Boxcars can be a little tricky, so you'll need to be on hand to help out. The double door boxcars do better than the single door ones. Easier to get your hand in and out.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Gondolas are great for kids 'cause they can put things in them easily and they don't fall out.

Kids like hands-on things. When I had my shop, 2 little girls discovered a box of old track under the layout and spent all afternoon sticking sections together and rolling old plastic wheelsets down them.


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## gtrainman (Jan 5, 2008)

Gondolas were the most our smallest used. Flat cars, well things fall off to easy and box cars are trickyThe coal cars don't have flat bottoms like the gons have.


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## cjwalas (Jan 2, 2008)

Gondolas, definitely. The Hartland shorty line ones were especially popular with my kids. Just the right size for their little hands. They had a lot of fun with them. 
Chris


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

From personal experience, I always liked pulling the roofs off of the LGB 3000-series 4-wheel passenger cars and having my Star Wars figures ride in the cars. The roofs pop on and off very easily. I've got a few here for Suzi and Andy for exactly that reason, though I think Annie and Clarabel will fill that role even better. Suzi's also got a Playmobil train with an open roof which she enjoys. More often, she and Andy are quite content to fill my hoppers and gondolas with whatever they can find. 

Later, 

K


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## Chata86 (Dec 5, 2010)

Is Playmobile the same scale as LGB btw? I somewhat remember them being sold together for a while. Playmobile was fancifully colored and battery powered with plastic track?


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

I have been using some New Bright cars I find cheap at train shows. My five year old has been playing with them since she was three and loves to haul stuff. She can be a little rough and I don't worry about a expensive car getting broken. She also loves the gondolas too but liked the box cars as well. Travis


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

there are old and new playmobile. 
the locos and track are different. 
the old playmobile locos run trackpowered on LGB track. the new are battery driven, with remote control on plastic track of the same width. 
all wagons run on any normal 45mm track. 

they are two different companies, who cooperated for a while.


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

The Playmobil cars are great and come with accessories. 

Figures are flexible with movable arms and legs. 

Playmobil is 1/24 scale and the hook and loop couplers have a special tab on top making them very easy to uncouple with your fingers. 

I have 2 sets plus 6 extra cars for grand kids to enjoy.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

The nice thing about PlayMobil cars is that they can be rendered into scale equipment, although freelanced, once the children outgrow their interest in PlayMobil. Examples below:



















I have added some grab irons to this car since the above photo was taken. Anyway, it should give you an idea for the potential to make working cars from PlayMobil stock.

Yours,
David Meashey


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Lehmann (LGB) Toytrain
very sturdy construction

chunky for small hands 

4 wheels for easy re-railing
No fiddly bits to break or fall off 

plus action cars like aquarium, dumbo, dinosaurs, and bubbles
H&L for easy coupling

Can be detailed later when they grow up

For a loco, get a LGB Stainz (they are nearly bulletproof!) or a HLW Mack (almost as good)


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## s-4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Here's how it's done Rockwall Canyon style!  

My two year old daughter loves playing in the sand...so why not start a gravel pit? 

Full album

A few old drop-end Aristo Gons provide, not only transportation for our equipment, but may also be used for hauling sand too!


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