Product Description

Non-stop action fun for Thomas and his friends. Thomas picks up the post, chugs around the track and drops it off at the sorting office. Percy collects it, then up the hill he goes to deliver it to the post office. Harold scoops it up then flies around to

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12497 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Tomy
• Model: 4567
• Released on: 2005-07-05

Manufacturer's Description

Thomas Post Office Loader

Non-stop action fun for Thomas and his friends. Thomas picks up the post, chugs around the track and drops it off at the sorting office. Percy collects it, then up the hill he goes to deliver it to the post office. Harold scoops it up then flies around to tip it off ready for the fun to start again.

This toy comes in an easy to fit together kit form, with the track nice and chunky for young hands to hold. The track easily snaps together and the Thomas and Percy are placed in their positions. Then just simply place a battery into the motor and watch as it moves around the track, picking up Thomas and then Percy. The motor also makes Harold ‘take off’ and drop the parcels into the chute so that the fun can start all over again!

This toy is great fun for kids of all ages! Once it is turned on you cannot take your eyes off it. It is almost hypnotic in the way that it works! It can be set up anywhere there is a flat surface – bedrooms, doctor’s waiting rooms, even in office meeting rooms where only big kids will get to see it in action! Thomas picks up the post, carries it to Percy, who drops it off to Harold, who delivers it to Thomas…..

Children of all ages love Thomas and the adventures he has, and this toy allows them to create new stories time and time again. The motor can be used on any flat surface so Thomas or Percy can move around away from the set too. But the magic really takes place once the toy is set up and children watch in awe as the small balls are moved effortlessly around the track.

Track layout approximately 54 x 73 cms.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Amazing to watch, not to play with
It is amazing to watch the little engine going around, picking and dropping all the "parcels"... and that's it really. It was fun for the adult to build the toy, but there is not much a child can do except sitting there to watch the trains and Harold going round. Everything is automatic. It would be really good as a shop display, but if you want your child to be imaginative, this is probably not a toy you want to get. I think it's a very good example of an over-engineered toy for children.

Strangely fascinating
As others have said, you set this toy up and it then does its stuff, with no human intervention required. It is something of a triumph of plastic engineering, all achieved using exactly one chassis powered by one AA battery.

There are a few catches with it. First off, it only works if every single piece is present. Lose one, and the circuit is broken. So it loses a star for that.

Next, unless you assemble it exactly right, with every piece pushed fully home, it won't work. The helicopter is particularly temperamental, and at one point we had to unscrew the base of that part and fiddle with it. Not a big problem, and it only happened once, but my 4-year-old can't assemble this on her own. So another star deducted for that.

Finally, the "post" is actually 12 little plastic balls which some children under 3 will certainly want to eat. So it has to be kept well away from any younger siblings, for instance. No stars deducted for that, because it doesn't detract from the fun potential for an older child, but the "post" itself is likely to get lost over the course of a few months unless you are scrupulous in colecting the balls up after each session. Only balls of the right size will work, too!

With all that said, my daughter is absolutely mesmerised by it...and at the cheaper post-Christmas price, it is reasonable value for the money.

Family Entertainment!
We love this toy. My husband enjoys putting it together and then, with the children (4 and 2), I sit in fascination watching it going round and round. Four little trains all doing their own job, a great example of team work. No it's not very hands on for the little ones (although there is a function where you can get the trains to repeat their job if it misses something) but it's great to see such young children being 'bunny in head lights' watching clever engineering. My husband recalls having the same thing when he was a child, although it was called 'Big Loader'. Definitely entertainment for all children of all ages. (I'm about to order one to be sent direct for my nephew's 3rd birthday)