Snowdens Train Set 1997 Edition

I bought this train set for my youngest sister even tho' she was 50 at the time. She loved the train set and so did her grandchildren!

The minute this was taken out of the box, set up and turned on it was taken apart and packed back up. My step son LOVES trains but I couldnt stand to have this in our house. You cant even hear yourself think over the level of noise this thing makes. If youre looking into buying this for under your tree, dont. Its way too big. I would not waste my time on this product.

Got this for my nephew. It tends to jump the tracks. It is supposed to make train sounds and play music, but you can't hear either because the volume level (not adjustable) is way too low and the motor on the train is obnoxiously loud. It sounds like someone is grinding up metal in a blender.

Like others have said, this toy is very loud making it difficult to hear the sound effects. I went to RadioShack and purchased a rheostat and mounted it through the chassis bottom in front of the drive wheels and connected it to the motor leads. I can slow the train down, thus reducing the noise, and the sound effects can now be heard if wanted. And, the light still functions normally. A bit of work, but the Grandkids love it around the tree. And, battery power is extended.

This toy is nice to look at and a great value for the price. The train is fairly large so make sure you have plenty of room. The cars have nice detail to them. The engine is fairly noisey. The music is a nice touch. You can turn the music or train sounds on or off. The train will also go forward or reverse using a simple manual control on the track. The kids love it so it's good enough for me.

THIS TRAIN IS GREAT! IT WAS A VERY RESONABLE PRODUCT FOR $7.49.MY GRANDSON LOVES IT, IT'S ALL HE TALKS ABOUT, THE TIME I SPEND WITH HIM WITH THIS IS PRICELESS! THAT IS WHY I PURCHASED TWO OF THEM, AS I THOUGHT THEY BREAK EASY, BUT THIS WAS NOT THE CASE, I'M SAVING THE OTHER ONE FOR THE BOTTOM OF MY XMAS TREE!

I think that when people say that an incoming tornado sounds like a train, they have the New Bright Holiday Express 181 in mind.

As the father of a 3-year-old who is obsessed with trains, I knew this one had to go around the Christmas tree when I saw it. If you're planning to put it around the tree, the first thing you need to know is that you need plenty of space. The oval track layout is about 8 feet long and about 3 feet wide (though you could probably knock a little off the length by taking out a straight track on either side).Why they bothered to put a mute setting on this train, I don't know. As others have mentioned, the motor is LOUD. The motor is far louder and more annoying than the sounds and music that the train makes. In fact, it's often hard to hear the sounds over the motor. That's the only real complaint I have with this train. You can't run it all the time or by the end of the Christmas season, you'd be deaf and have the worst migraine in the history of the world.On the other hand, when I see the wide eyes and silly grin on my son's face as he watches it go around and around the tree, I can't get annoyed at how much noise it makes. He absolutely loves it. It's well worth the $35 that I paid for it, and it's great if you have a kid who loves trains and you don't mind a few minutes of noise every now and then.