Trains And Trainsets – What To Choose?

I’m actually looking for a little bit of advice today.

When we were preparing for Squidgy’s birth, we were advised to ‘make sure that the new baby brings a present for big sister’. Apparently it’s meant to appease the jealousy monster. Personally, I think this new adjustment is going to depend on many more factors than merely what present is brought, but I wasn’t going to argue too much with the wisdom of those gone before, and we had wanted to buy Ameli a train set for ages, and thought this was the perfect opportunity.

So, we looked around and eventually found a train set on sale, and bought it. I wanted to be particularly careful that the set we bought would be Brio compatible as that seems to be the measure against which all wooden train sets are judged: Are they, or are they not, Brio compatible. And if they are, they should by default be compatible with each other.

So we bought a train set, and the morning after Squidgy was born, we popped her in a Moses Basket next to a train set in a box, and when Ameli came downstairs, we told her her sister had brought her a present.  She was ecstatic and her and daddy immediately set about building this set.

So now my question is this… or my questions, as the case may be: how much do we buy? How big do we make the set? Do we stick to one type, or do we mix and match among the compatibles? Have a look at these lovely Brio Train Sets from The Wooden Toyshop and you’ll see what I mean. There are so many options to choose from, and so much you can build on, but what would you recommend as the ‘basic’ necessities for a fantastic make-believe railway?