Keep your tiny engineers enthralled and entertained with these inspired ideas for Brio, Bigjigs, Ikea and Thomas wooden train sets.
#1 Double Oval Madness
Cleverly incorporating two ovals that loop-back on themselves plus a bridge this clever track arranegment will delight tiny train nuts.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIhwyqXABYQ/
#2 The Octopus
This will 8 legged turntable design is as much fun to watch as it is to play with.
https://www.instagram.com/p/_NjfUSKzX8/
#3 Snake Paradise
Admittedly, this room filling snake themed train track isn’t much to look at but it’s a different ball-game for playing with.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIkqgP4j6jv/
#4 What’s in a name
Learning while playing? Absolutely with this super-smart idea of making your child’s name with train track. Best of all, they don’t realise they’re learning but as they move their trains around the track they’re learning the shape and form of the letters.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BD05SmXSFOH/
#5 Lego Looms Large
The children maybe too young for Lego but that’s no reason not to incorporate into your wooden train set railways for a while new dimension of fun. And when (or should that be if…) they grow out of Wooden trains they’ll have a head start on making Lego models.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJvi5cADSTj/
#6 Spiral Spectacular
There’s something oh-so-cool about watching trains hurl around ever decreasing circles and this cunning layout idea does this with bells on. It’ll keep your toddlers busy for hours.
https://www.instagram.com/p/qdXTvhuTOn/
#7 Symetrical Smarts
Our eyes are designed to seek out beauty and our brains are hard wired to find symmetrical patterns and this elegant layout does both.
https://www.instagram.com/p/mcqsh6rTPQ/
#8 Congestion Control
Simple to look at it maybe but this compact layout will teach you toddler more than they realise with timing and speed control needed to avoid crashes between trains working their way around intersecting sections of track.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCRtNuNq9Ni/
Hopefully, these ideas will inspire you to create even more varied and interesting wooden railway set layouts. If you want interesting and exciting trains to run on them, take a read of the sister post to this article – the top Brio and Bigjis trains.
Andy is a lifelong modeler, writer, and founder of modelrailwayengineer.com. He has been building model railways, dioramas, and miniatures for over 20 years. His passion for model making and railways began when he was a child, building his first layout at the age of seven.
Andy’s particular passion is making scenery and structures in 4mm scale, which he sells commercially. He is particularly interested in modelling the railways of South West England during the late Victorian/early Edwardian era, although he also enjoys making sci-fi and fantasy figures and dioramas. His website has won several awards, and he is a member of MERG (Model Railway Electronics Group) and the 009 Society.
When not making models, Andy lives in Surrey with his wife and teenage son. Other interests include history, science fiction, photography, and programming. Read more about Andy.