Culdee and the Apple Orchard Cars is a three-car set. There is Culdee , a very neat looking purple engine with two faces, an apple picker car, and a car-carrying apples.

We haven't seen Culdee in any books or videos but my son is still very interested in him. He always points him out in the catalog. We bought Culdee for him for Christmas with the apple orchard cars. Supposedly the apple car is supposed to smell like apples but we haven't taken it out of the box yet.

Because the Thomas trains are the best train sets for kids (IMO), they're expensive. I have considered the less expensive Thomas compatible sets before, like Brio tables or the Brio roundhouse, but I have never bought. I have found that although the similar sets will work with Thomas products, and probably offer the same enjoyment, they are not without their problems.

One of my favorite things about my boy liking Thomas trains is how they expand his mind and his vocabulary. If Joe wasn't so interested in Thomas and Percy and all the rest we would not have had the opportunity to introduce the engineering and "how-the-world-works" concepts that come along with train play. I think my child will be smarter for it when he reaches school-age.

Thomas and friends toys and trains sets make great gifts for young girls and boys. There are perhaps hundreds of thomas books that attempt to impart important messages of hard work and the importance of treating friends well in colorful, fun stories. The simple, well-built trains allow for incredible pretend scenarios. Simple sets are available at affordable prices, while expansion track and several dozens of trains can be added for extensive play.

Over the last year our family has acquired about 15 Thomas and Friends videos. The first time I saw one, I thought it was really dumb, because almost nothing happens in the video. I guess I didn't like them because they are narrated and not like what we are used to seing these days. These days, Joe spends a lot of time playing out the scenes he saw on the tapes on his train table, or pretending he and I are trains and we are friends and talking to each other in the shed.