Making a Train Table

My four year old son loves Thomas the Train. But, buying a real Thomas the Train table involved more money than I could budget, so I set out to make one for his last birthday.

The first thing I did was make a layout using his track from several generic sets. When I found a layout I liked, I took a picture (so I could reconstruct it again) and measured it's dimensions. Then, I went looking for a piece of scrap plywood that would work. After trimming it to size, and sanding the top and edges, my older boys helped me design and paint the top. What fun! Then we reconstructed the track in the layout we had planned, and screwed it down. For risers under bridges, we cut small scraps of wood.

When in use, we sit it on two toy bins (big totes). The nice thing is that it can be easily stored by leaning it in a corner of the room. It has seen tons of use and is one project well worth the time and effort involved. I was tickled to find some beautifully made train pieces from Big Lots at the time for a fraction of the cost of name brand ones. I like that!