I love for my daughter to play with toys of all kinds, including those typically deemed just for boys.  Chuggington is a very popular children's television show which features lovable train characters.  Riley has recently come to learn about trains since watching one of her favorite Sesame Street videos and I just knew that she would like to play with a train set of her very own.

Learning Curve carries a wide variety of Chuggington toys and we had the opportunity to review the Chuggington Wooden Railway Over & Under Starter Set.  Keep reading to learn more about it!

The Chuggington Wooden Railway Over & Under Starter Set is a 22-piece set which allows your child to build a figure-8 train track from all wooden pieces.  It is also considered a 2-in-1 set, for the clock tower can be changed into two tunnels simply by placing the top portion over any section of the wooden track.  This toy is recommended for children ages 3 and up and includes a vee as well as the train characters, Koko and Wilson.

I like how easy the train set was to put together, for it is designed like one huge wooden puzzle, with interlocking pieces of track.  Riley also adored Koko and Wilson and loved it when I told her that these train cars weren't just ordinary parts of a train, but they had special names too.

Riley really liked the magnets on both ends of each train car, for they would just stick together as if by magic.  Unfortunately, Riley is too young to understand the polarity of magnets and so would become slightly frustrated when she couldn't figure out how to make Koko and Wilson "stick" together because she was trying to align the cars end-to-end or front-to-front.

Riley really enjoyed the Chuggington Wooden Railway Over & Under Starter Set and has played with it religiously ever since.  The only problems I noticed with this train set is that the train cars automatically derail when you're sliding them down the arc of the top track.  The speed of the cars is simply too much for the short piece of track and the cars will slide off every time.  I even tried completely dismantling the figure-8 track and using all of the straight pieces included to lengthen one side, but the train cars would still fall off.

I know that this set is only a starter set and supposed to be combined with other Chuggington sets for more fun and a larger play area, but it seems to me that this feature is poorly designed.  Riley didn't seem to mind too much though and would just pick the train car back up and play some more.

If you have a toddler or preschooler who loves trains or Chuggington or both, then I would recommend purchasing this toy for them.  Although I think there are a few design issues with this set, Riley loved playing with it and she didn't even seem to notice them.  This toy has definitely captured her attention and imagination and introduced her to two brand new friends...Koko and Wilson!

Additional Chuggington Wooden Railway Toys: