Baby & Family · Head-to-head
BRIO Starter Travel Train Set vs Melissa & Doug Wooden Railway Set
Which should you buy? Our verdict on both, pulled from our full The Best Train Sets: 4 Compared (and One to Skip) comparison.
BRIO invented this system and still makes the densest, best-finished beech track. Melissa & Doug's 130-piece railway delivers the most layout per dollar. Buy the table bundle only if the table itself is the goal.
BRIO Starter Travel Train Set
Buy itThe original wooden railway: 22 pieces of FSC-certified beech in a figure-8 with a tunnel, bridge and platform.
- Beech wood tracks with the tightest tolerances in the category: connectors slide together smoothly and hold their shape for decades.
- 22-piece figure-8 layout includes a tunnel-and-bridge intersection, station platform, train and two figures - a real play scene, not just a loop.
- Fully compatible with every BRIO World set and, in practice, with Melissa & Doug and most wooden-track brands, so the set grows for years.
- The most expensive per piece in the field; expanding a BRIO layout costs real money.
- No storage solution in the box, just the cardboard packaging.
- The push train is unpowered, which is the point, but some kids expect motion.
Melissa & Doug Wooden Railway Set
Buy it130-plus pieces - roundhouse, suspension bridge, trestle, turntable - for the price of two BRIO starter sets.
- About 130 pieces including a roundhouse engine shed, suspension and trestle bridges, turntable, switches, T-junction, magnetic cranes, trees, workers and signs.
- Roughly five times the piece count of the BRIO starter for a fraction of the price per piece; serious layouts happen on day one.
- Standard wooden-track dimensions, so it mixes with BRIO and other wooden railways; the maker rates it for ages 3 and up.
- Wood and finish are a step below BRIO: some pieces arrive with minor roughness that a sanding pass fixes.
- At about 17 pounds shipped it is a big box, and the set still needs its own bin for storage.
- So many pieces that a 3-year-old's first layout needs an adult's help.
Side by side
| BRIO Starter Travel Train Set | Melissa & Doug Wooden Railway Set | |
|---|---|---|
| Our verdict | Buy | Buy |
| Best for | The first train set for a 3-to-5-year-old, or a gift where build quality and longevity matter more than piece count. | The family gift for a train-obsessed kid: enough track for real layouts without buying five starter sets. |
| Price tier | $$ · mid-range | $$$ · premium |
The bottom line
Our overall pick is the BRIO Starter Travel Train Set - The original wooden railway: 22 pieces of FSC-certified beech in a figure-8 with a tunnel, bridge and platform. Choose the Melissa & Doug Wooden Railway Set instead if the family gift for a train-obsessed kid: enough track for real layouts without buying five starter sets.
Want the full picture, including the other options we compared and the popular one we'd skip? Read the complete The Best Train Sets: 4 Compared (and One to Skip).