Product Review: Imaginarium Mountain Rock Train Table

Let me start off by saying that if you don’t have 3-4 hours of your life to put together a train table, then this isn’t the one for you. However, if you can find a few hours, which I’m sure you can, it is well worth the time (and money) spent.

We bought the Imaginarium Mountain Rock Train Table for C last Christmas on sale, but for the quality, I would absolutely have paid the full price of $149.99.

The table itself is quite heavy, made of real wood, sturdy with a storage drawer. What I like about this is after the “train phase” is up, the bottom platform flips over to a plain green so the table can be utilized for something other than trains. (We plan on attaching Lego boards to it and turning it into a Lego table).

The track itself and all of the components are of great quality as well. I was worried at first that C would end up breaking some of the moving parts (the working crane, doors, and destination board) but honestly they’ve held up fantastic. The crane spins around, has a magnetic piece on the end to “pick up the cargo” and is able to be raised and lowered. There is also a bridge that makes train sounds as the trains are pushed across it. C loves making the trains say “choo choo” and gets extremely excited about the flashing lights. 

So included with the train table is “eight trains, two vehicles, three traffic signs, a fueling station, five cargo bundles, four street lights, five wooden figures, four rock trestles, two viaducts, four trees, a crossing gate, two trestles, two construction zone cones, four rocks and over 55 pieces of wooden track and accessories”. There is A LOT of pieces. Almost too many. We bought this for C when he was right around 2 years old knowing that the recommended age is 3. C has always been ahead of the learning curve so I figured why not?  I kept a lot of the pieces put up initially as no one in their right mind would give a child this many items. Over the past year, C has free choosing of what pieces of his train table he would like to play with. However, I still have a huge problem with the “two construction cones” and the “four rocks”.  

 C has never been one to put things in his mouth however, I feel that even for a 3 year old (the recommended age) these pieces are far too small.  If a child would happen to put these in their mouth, they would surely choke. The rocks are roughly 1″ in diameter and honestly, they scare the heck out of me! I can safely say that they will be going in the trash. The traffic cones are on the smaller side as well (about the same size as the rock) so for safety, I put those up as well.

Another thing I like about this train table is that it is compatible with Thomas the Train, Chuggington, and Brio trains. We still had some Thomas trains from when E was younger that we were able to pass down to C and they work and fit perfectly. They even have the same sensor to allow the bridge to make noise when its pushed across.

Assembly wise. My gracious. Overwhelming to say the least. The instructions are semi-helpful in letting you know which boxes to open and what is contained in those boxes. They also instruct you on how to put together the accessories such as the Train GarageMy problem came with track assembly. None of the pieces are actually labeled leaving it up to you to figure out which piece is a “L” and which piece is a “J”.  It was definitely a pain in the butt and took about an hour just for the track. After it is all assembled, KEEP YOUR INSTRUCTIONS! I threw mine away thinking I wouldn’t need them again. I almost had a full blown panic attack when C walked up to me with a piece of the track and said “it’s broken Momma.” I had a vague image in my head of how it was supposed to look… and since I threw the paper instructions away, I had to look them up online but it would have been way easier if I had the instructions handy.

Overall, 5 out of 5 stars. Hours of fun for the whole family and definitely versatile. Just keep the rocks and cones (They’re in Box B) out of little hands until you personally feel comfortable giving them to your child.

-Kirstyn