As with all the Thomas the Tank trackmaster engines my grandson loves this one just as much as the others. We bought this new one for christmas. It says they are for 3 years plus but he has been playing with these engines since he was 12 months old, so they are very durable. Only problem he never turns them off so they eat up batteries. (I now use rechargable ones!) The engines are quite powerful as they make it to the top of a very steep mountain ramp toy that my grandson has decided is just as good for trackmaster engines - as well as the cars it's really meant to take that run downhill! As with most of Amazon items the price (when I made this review) was very reasonable. The engines are usable on their own, without the track, and run well even across carpeted rooms, which my grandson is quite happy to do, giggling as he races them across the room and they crash into various pieces of furniture. This is particularly good, as the track can take up a lot of room and it's not always feasible when there are a number of people in the room. He spends hours with them - off and on the track.