Jakks Pacific Power Trains Auto Loader City

$60, Smart Toy

Teaches: train play, cars

CTR Rating: 90%

CTR Review

Here's a new twist on train sets, and an entirely different price range. Power Trains are hampster-sized motorized trains that run on 2 AAA batteries that last about an hour. You need a small screwdriver to put the batteries into the train, like many toys. Parts to the set are sold together or separately, so it is possible to expand your track, as large as you like. The "Auto Loader City" set, reviewed here, contains 56 pieces that include: 1 Auto Loader; 1 Motorized Engine; 4 train cars; 2 tunnels; 20 small decorations, and 28 track pieces that can be attached to make more than 18 feet of track. As you can imagine, there's a good deal of assembly required, and the parts don't always snap together perfectly. Testers found the coupling process (attaching the engine to a car, for example) clumsy, and the train will derail when it is the fast setting. Engine features include two speed settings, a small LED headlight and wheels that work either on track or off. This isn't nearly the quality that you'll get out of a typical Lionel set, but it isn't nearly the price, either.