GeoTrax Rail & Road System - Lift 'n Roll Barrel Loader Review

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(More customer reviews)The GeoTrax train system is a great line of toys for toddlers and young children. The recent addition of "GeoMotion" train stops takes the fun even further. When the motorized train passes through, it stops and automatically powers the building. Your child can then flip a switch and send the train on its way again.
In the Workin' Lifting Barrel Loader, the train powers a conveyor belt which lifts the included barrels to the top of the tower and then sends them down a series of chutes and into a hopper on the other side. With a tip of a lever, the barrels will load onto the waiting train car. There is also a manual crank in case your child wants to run the Loader without the train.
The best thing about the Barrel Loader is that it's designed to load right into the train where it's stopped. (Contrast this to the GeoMotion factory in the Working Town set, which stacks up cargo in a chute that's not lined up with any car on the train; you've then got to time it just right as the moving train passes by, which is often frustrating if not impossible for younger kids.) It's not foolproof - you've got to have the barrel car linked just behind the locomotive and the car inexplicably only securely holds one barrel at a time (the set comes with three) - but it's fun nonetheless.
The downside of this design is that the Barrel Loader is quite big, both in width and length. Keep in mind that if you're pressed for floorspace, then the addictive world of GeoTrax trains probably isn't the best choice to begin with. Also, I was disappointed that the crosspiece (blue in the picture) isn't securely fastened to the two towers. This is the most obvious place to pick up the set when you're moving it, and it falls off every time, often causing you to drop the entire set. PROS
* Fun to watch and use
* Properly designed/sized to load barrels onto the waiting train
CONS
* Takes up a lot of floorspace, even by GeoTrax standards
* Snap construction is a bit flimsy

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