The GeoTrax Train Blog

GeoTrax & Disney Pixar Cars – Create Your Own Radiator Springs

2009-07-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

By now you have probably heard the news that GeoTrax is welcoming the gang from Disney Pixar CARS complete with a GeoTrax Lightning McQueen TURBO RC to the GeoTrax Transportation System.

Now you can build your own Radiator Springs next to GeoTown. New sets include Turbo Remote Control cars (2x the speed of a regular GeoTrax RC), Locations/Buildings from the CARS movie and new track packs which include a popular CARS vehicle.

(Click for a larger view of this picture)

Let's take a closer look at the new sets available and some of the features new to the GeoTrax collection.

TURBO Remote Control Cars

The following cars are currently available:
* Lightning McQueen Turbo RC
* Mater Turbo RC
* Doc Turbo RC

What's unique about the Turbo RC Cars...

* They are 2 times faster than regular remotes
* They talk – quoting lines from the movie. They also make squealing tire sounds

Track Packs with NEW Black Street Track and Vehicles

The new track packs available inlclude the following:

* Sally's Track Pack
* Sarge's Track Pack
* Trev's Track Pack

Sally's Track Pack includes Sally push vehicle, six additional track pieces, and a Radiator Springs street light. Track pieces include 1 T-track switch, 1 Y-track right switch, 2 Y-track left switches, 1 crossing/intersection piece and 1 straight track piece.

Sarge's Track Pack includes a Sarge push vehicle, five 3" straight pieces, five 6" straight pieces, six curved pieces, and a Route 66 sign.

Trev's Track pack includes a Trev push train, two road straight tracks, two road curve tracks, four rail straight packs, two rail half tracks, two rail curve tracks, one crossing piece, two guardrails, and two railroad crossing signs.

Buildings/Places from the CARS Movie

* Flo's V-8 Café
* Ramone's Body Art set
* Sheriff's Lookout Mountain

Flo's V-8 Cafe features a cool roundabout allowing your kids to change direction of their vehicles as they travel around Radiator Springs. The set comes with the Cafe and a Flo vehicle. Flo speaks fun phrases from the movie.

Ramone's body shop is the place to come and have your body art applied. Push down on the Ramone vehicle and he pops back up. Ramone also speaks fun phrases from the movie.

Sheriff can chase speeders around radiator springs. He talks and says fun phrases from the movie. The set comes with 1 Sheriff vehicle, the mountain site with curved track, 1 billboard sign that Sheriff can hide behind, 2 small off-ramp track pieces and 2 pieces of ramp track.

All sets are available online. Click the links above to purchase now and get started recreating your own Radiator Springs in your living room.

GeoTrax Timbertown Railway with Steamer & Samuel

2009-05-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

May is usually the month new GeoTrax sets are released by Fisher-Price and this year appears to be no exception. Starting today you can buy the new GeoTrax TimberTown Railway and we want you to be the first to know about it.

The TimberTown Railway appears to be the new starter set replacing the Grand Central Station.

Here are a couple of cool things that come with the set:

1. The Mountain Tunnel
2. Steamer the RC Train
3. The Easy Rail Station

The Mountain Tunnel
Tunnels are always cool for kids. The more tunnels the better and a little variety certainly doesn't hurt

Steamer the RC Train
'Steamer' the RC Train appears similar to the Big Rob & Hauler RC Truck that was released the end of 2007. The steam engine is actually not the part of the train that is remote controlled. The first car the engine is pulling is actually an RC car. There are many fans--myself included--that would like to attach other push engines to an RC car like this, making it possible for other push trains to be able to operate like an RC engine...is the wait over? I can't tell from the picture. What do you think?

The Easy Rail Station
Fisher-Price has realized young GeoTrax fans can find it a challenge to place the train on the track correctly to start playing. The Easy Rail Station provides an easy way to get the track aligned on the track.

Instruction Sheet
Here's a link to the GeoTrax Timbertown Railway instruction sheet. The instruction sheet includes a complete parts list, setup instructions and 4 alternative layouts for the new set.

Pictures
There are lots of pictures available online if you want to see more.

* Complete set with RC Train and Remote Wand
* Easy Rail Station in Color
* Timber Crane on top of the Mountain
* Alternative Track Layout for the Timbertown Set
* Another Alternative Track Layout
* One More Track Layout
* Close up of Remote Train with Remote Controller

New GeoTrax Video: Steamer & Samuel Save the Day

2009-03-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Good news! Fisher-Price continues to add to their series of GeoTrax videos with the release of "Steamer and Samuel Save the Day." What happens when Opie and Woohoo, the most confused team in GeoTown, try to help out with the building of a new Timbertown station? Tune in to find out...

The video hints at new possible GeoTrax sets soon to be released.

Steamer and Samuel - The Hardest Working Team

Pumper, Payton and Paul - The Track Repair Team

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Ironface and Irving - The Stubborn Team

The video also makes reference to "GeoPeak" and "Timbertown Station". I think the idea of GeoPeak is a great one. I see this being similar to the Mile High Mountain set but I think it would be really cool to have the mountain wrapped with a gradual, circular track. At the top of the mountain the track could then connect with other elevation track or elevation sets.

Follow the GeoTrax Blog on Twitter

2009-03-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

Do you use Twitter? Did you know that I have set up a geotraxblog account on Twitter.com and would love to meet up with other fans of GeoTrax. Start following me today using the following link...

http://twitter.com/geotraxblog/

For those of you who don't know what Twitter is, let me see if I can explain. Twitter is a form of 'micro-blogging' that allows you to post short messages (140 characters or less) to the web. People who are interested can choose to 'follow' you and be better informed about some of the day-to-day things you are doing.

What does this have to do with my GeoTrax blog and why should you care? On my blog I try to narrate the worldwide community's passion for GeoTrax--a pretty lofty goal. This includes shopping deals, layout ideas, videos and more. There is far more going on then I will ever have time to create proper blog posts for.

Twitter gives me a way to capture little pieces of GeoTrax news and info as I encounter it and immediately publish it to the web so other GeoTrax fans like you can be informed in a more timely fashion.

The following video does a great job describing Twitter in plain English.

I hope to see you on Twitter so you can get the full story of my GeoTrax blog and see what goes on between blog posts.

http://twitter.com/geotraxblog/

GeoTrax On-the-Go Zoo - with Zoo Keeper, Animals and Push Train

2009-02-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

You may already have take-and-go train sets if you collect Thomas or other popular train toys. Fisher-Price has now entered this market with the release of the GeoTrax On-the-Go Zoo.

The new GeoTrax On-The-Go Zoo comes with a figure 8 track layout that makes it way around a zoo setting playmat. The set folds in half and has a handle for easy carrying. It is the easiest setup yet...just pull it out, unfold it and your ready to start playing.

The set comes with the 'Wildest' team made up of Tafari the train and Terry the zookeeper. You also get a lion and elephant animal figure and a bundle of hay to feed to the animals. Tafari and Terry can drive around the loop track and dump hay from the train car into the animals' pens.

The fold an go system is pretty cool as it comes with the attached play mat with pictures of hippos and crocodiles and a wooden walkway. There is a special compartment where you store away your play pieces and prevent them from getting lost while you are on the go.

The switch track prices at the top of the loop allow you to also connect this with the rest of your track and incorporate the zoo as a part of a larger GeoTrax town.

Here are some pictures available on the Fisher-Price website...

* Zoo keeper and train
* Train delivering food to the animals
* Zoo keeper rides along inside the train
* Complete set of everything that's included
* Set folds in half with room to store accessories
* Comes with a convienent, built-in handle

Buy it today: The GeoTrax On-the-Go Zoo.

Here are some pictures of the actual packaging

(front of the box)

(back of the box)

Become a Follower of the GeoTrax Blog

2009-01-31T10:24:00.000-08:00

In 2009 I plan to do more to establish a community feel on the GeoTrax Train Blog. More details and tips will be coming on this subject. You may have noticed in the side navigation menu that I have added a place where you, the reader, can make it known to everyone that you are a reader of the GeoTrax Blog.

If you haven't done so you can get started by clicking here. Becoming a follower will help you stay in touch and know when new content is published. It will also help you to build relationships with other members of the GeoTrax community.

Reminder: This blog is NOT owned or managed by Fisher-Price. It is an Unofficial Blog maintained by a GeoTrax fan.

My Mistake Could be Your Gain...but Hurry....

2009-01-18T15:19:00.000-08:00

Check out the auction now.

I have a GeoTrax Track Pack auction running on eBay that ends in about 2 hours. I noticed I made a huge error and forgot a space between one of the major keywords in the title when listing it. So what this means is when people search on the term 'track' this auction can't be found. I have hid this auctions from 100s of eBay users.

Just thought I would point this out for my loyal readers of the blog so if anyone wants a good deal on some GeoTrax Track and a DVD (this picture shows all the things included in this auction. This auction would usually close with the winning bid between $18 and $25 dollars and right now it is at $6.49.

Check out the auction now.

Auction ends at 5:37 PST.

Look What I Found in my Closet...GeoTrax Fans

2009-01-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to my special Deluxe Elevation Chrome Train auction.

It is the new year and we are trying to clean some things up around our place and get the house in order. As I result I have been cleaning out my GeoTrax closet. While doing so I found I have a new, unused RC Train from the GeoTrax Deluxe Elevation set released back in 2004.

This train engine is made our of the same mold as the Pacific Chief. It has a great chrome paint job with the flashy, red and yellow z-stripe down the side of it. If comes with the same train cars as the Tracktown Railway remote.

The remote wand is also very flashy.

After quite a bit of thought I have decided to put it up for auction. Keep checking back for details. The auction will most likely start this Sunday (1/11) and run for 7 days.

Here is a link to my special Deluxe Elevation Chrome Train auction.

GeoTrax Track Layout Ideas - Elevated Switch

2009-01-02T21:24:00.000-08:00

This is GeoTrax Track Layout Idea--Quick Tip #4.

When designing new track layouts you may have discovered it can be a bit tricky to use your switch tracks with the stanchions (supports) as the track doesn't have the right groves cut on the under side. I have been playing around with a few ideas--why don't you give these a try.

The first idea uses a T-track piece with three bridges...I just eliminate the stanchion altogether and the T-track connects nicely to the elevated bridges.

The second idea uses a right or left Y-switch track and connects again to other elevated structures--completely removing the stanchion from the mix. I have tried to give you an idea of other elevated structures you might use in case you don't have three bridges. In my example below you will see I use a bridge, a curved ramp piece and the high chimes clock tower.

The other trick to note is that you will need to use a straight half piece of track to connect the switch to whatever elevated structure you use.

If you are looking to buy some of these pieces here are a few recommendations:

* The T-track switch comes with the GeoTrax City Track Pack

Merry GeoTrax - Enjoy the Movie!

2008-12-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

For many of you kids and parents today has been filled the joy and thrill of new GeoTrax. Christmas is also a day when many new movies debut in the theater. Thus, I thought it would be appropriate to show a GeoTrax Double feature here on the blog.

Matthew, Chad & Eric have been hard at work again producing what is sure to be their second GeoTrax blockbuster short film -- "The Great Train Robbery". So grab the popcorn and enjoy...

If you are new to GeoTrax, you may have missed their original smash hit "GeoTown" set to some upbeat Zydeco music. This is my kids favorite GeoTrax video yet...

Merry Christmas everyone and enjoy your new GeoTrax.

GeoTrax Holiday Wish List 2008

2008-12-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Cyber Monday! Are you looking for the perfect GeoTrax set for the train fan in your life? I have put together for you a list of the hottest GeoTrax sets for this holiday season.

Only on eBay
* Grand Central Station Track Layout Manual (Vol. 6) - NEW!
* Train Table Series Track Layout Manual (Vol. 7) - NEW!
* Creative Layout Manual--Workin' Town Layouts (Vol. 5)
* Creative Layout Manual--Table Top Layouts (Vol. 4)

Brand Spankin' New from Fisher-Price
* GeoTrax Take-and-Go Zoo

New GeoAir sets from Fisher Price
(be sure and check the "More Buying Choices" on the right-hand side of the resulting page for best prices)

* GeoAir High-Flyin' Airport In Stock with FREE shipping
* GeoAir Blast-Through Barn
* GeoAir Fly-By Bridge
* GeoTrax GeoAir Mega Set
* GeoTrax GeoAir Loopy Loco Bi-Plane (Remote Control Airplane)
* GeoTrax GeoAir Blue Flash Jet Plane (Remote Control Airplane)

Classic Sets--Reissued
* Mile-High Mountain
* Mt. Blast Construction Set

Starter Sets
* Grand Central Station Award-winning!
* Tracktown Railway
* Workin' Town Railway

GeoTrax Track Layout...New GeoAir Layouts Now Available

2008-11-12T21:24:00.000-08:00

Fisher-Price has added some new content to the GeoTrax website. There is now a whole new area dedicated to the new GeoAir sets. In this post I wanted to highlight the new GeoTrax layouts that incorporate the GeoAir sets.

* Layout #1: All 3 GeoAir sets
* Layout #2: The GeoAir Fly-by Bridge
* Layout #3: The Airport and Blast-through Barn

These are a great starting point for creating new layouts that will keep your child engaged and entertained. Enjoy!

New GeoTrax Bundles at Kohls

2008-10-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since it has been interesting to shop for GeoTrax at Kohls. That may be changing as it looks like they are selling exclusive GeoTrax bundles just in time for holiday shopping. Special bundles include a GeoAir airport bundle, a Mt. Blast Construction bundle and the Fast Response Rescue Fire Station bundle.

GeoTrax GeoAir Mega Set (Kohls Exclusive)

This set includes everything you would get with the new GeoAir Airport plus the 3-episode DVD, 5 little people and a special lights and sounds yellow truck not sold separately with any other set. Check it out on the Kohl's website.

GeoTrax Mountain Blast Construction Site (Kohls Exclusive)

The Mt. Blast Construction set hasn't been available for a while in stores. Now thorugh Kohls you can have this popular construction set plus a lights and sounds dump truck and two tough looking construction workers to complete the set. Check it out on the Kohl's website.

GeoTrax Fast Response Rescue Fire Station (Kohls Exclusive)

Here's another chance to get the Fast Response Rescue Co.. This Kohls exclusive comes with the Fast Response Rescue Co. fire station, a lights and sounds ambulance and 3 little people including a fireman and an ambulance driver. Check it out on the Kohl's website.

See the GeoAir Airport in Action - Video From a True GeoTrax Fan

2008-09-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have spent way too much time scouring the Internet for a video of the new GeoAir Airport (much to the chagrin of my wife) and finally I have found one. It is only about 40 seconds long but it gives you a good idea of what GeoAir is like.

See Jumbo the plane, hear the sound effects, watch fun looping action. If you have any of the new GeoAir sets we would love to see them in action. Make a video and then post a link in the comments to this post...

P.S. I love how they call this the "coolest present ever"

GeoAir Remote Control Loopy Loco Bi-Plane w/Darren - GeoTrax

2008-09-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

I am a little slow to post this but for the sake of being complete, I thought I should add a post for the new GeoAir Remote Control Loopy Loco Bi-Plane with Pilot Darren set.

The RC planes, like the RC Trains, are free wheeling as they head down hill. This plane is sure to come with some fun, realistic sound effects as well. You can also check out an animated video of Loopy and Darren on the Fisher-Price website.

Here are some pictures available on the Fisher-Price website...

* Loopy Loco and Darren doing a loop - see them in action
* Close-up of the GeoAir remote controller
* Darren rides along inside the Loopy Loco Bi-plane
* A close-up of the GeoAir airplane riding on the air track
* Another picture of the Loopy Loco and his pilot Darren
* GeoAir fun as Loopy Loco rides the air track

I haven't seen this in real life yet but I do have one question...how does Darren stay in the plan when it goes upside down? Their must be some way to secure him but I can't figure it out from the pictures.

Learn more about this GeoTrax GeoAir RC by checking out the Loopy Loco Bi-plane instruction sheet.

If anyone wants to shoot a video of Loopy and Darren in action and post it to YouTube, Flicker or some other site I would be happy to show it off here on my blog. Just post a comment with a link to your video...

Buy it today:GeoAir Remote Control Loopy Loco Bi-Plane with Pilot Darren.

GeoTrax Airport Vehicles - Chugger & Chandler and Wheeler & Wes

2008-08-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

A couple new lights and sounds push vehicles (with figure) have been released to help keep things running smoothly at the new GeoTrax airport.

Chugger and Chandler help keep the airplanes fueled up. Wheeler and Wes help direct traffic on the ground and move luggage around.

Get the instruction sheets for these two sets.

I haven't been able to locate these in stores yet so if they are an immediate "must have" for your set I would recommend ordering direct from Fisher Price...see the links above.

GeoTrax Blast-Through Barn with GeoAir Expansion Track

2008-07-31T07:16:00.000-07:00

Here is some more information on the GeoTrax Blast-Through Barn set which has just been released.

According to the Mattel website, the set comes with the barn complete with swinging "break through" doors. It also comes with a push-along pick-up truck--although I am not seeing it in any of the pictures I have seen. You will also get an articulated farmer figure and four pieces of GeoAir track.

If you don't already have it, the Gritty & Farmer Earl (w/Pig) set is a nice compliment to the Blast-Through Barn set.

The following pictures are available on the Fisher-Price website:

* Blast-Through Barn & the GeoAir Loopy Loco RC Bi-Plane
* Blast-Through Barn complete set showing tracks separate
* Blast-Through Barn with Train passing through the barn

You can also see a few more details by checking out the Blast-Through Barn instruction sheet.

Where to buy the Blast-Through Barn:
* Amazon.com
* Target
* Walmart

GeoTrax Fly-By Bridge with GeoAir Expansion Track

2008-07-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share a few more details about the new bridge being released for your GeoTrax collection. The GeoAir Fly-by Bridge will be the first bridge to incorporate the GeoAir air tracks system and allow the remote control planes to fly loops around the bridge. The set comes with the new bridge, a little figure and four pieces of air track.

The following pictures are available on the Fisher-Price website:

* Fly-by Bridge & the GeoAir Blue Flash RC Jet Plane
* Fly-by Bridge complete set showing tracks separate
* Fly-by Bridge with Aero crossing the bridge

You can also see a few more details by checking out the Fly-by Bridge instruction sheet.

Where to buy the Fly-by Bridge:
* Amazon.com
* Target
* Walmart

GeoAir Coming Soon -- New Marketing Page on Fisher-Price.com

2008-07-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

There is now a bit more information on fisher-price.com about the upcoming GeoAir release. The best news is an image that shows the GeoAir track will connect accross the different sets so you can take a airplane from the airport to the suspension bridge through the barn and back to the airport.

GeoTrax Engineer's Tip of the Month - Do You Have One?

2008-07-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

Last year when Fisher-Price launched the new version of the Official GeoTrax website, I noticed a feature that really caught my attention. On their track layouts page they had a little section labeled the "Engineer's Tip of the Month."

As you can see it pictured here, the idea was to have a picture and a description of some shortcut or 'hack' that would allow you to get more out of your GeoTrax sets. Using rails to span two straight pieces of track and hold them together in a way that eliminates the need for a track support (or stanchion)...now that is a cool idea, since supports can be scarce.

But that wasn't the first place this tip appeared...it came directly from you, the GeoTrax community, and has been shared several times in places like the GeoTrax Yahoo! Group and in the forums of GeoTrax World. Unfortunately, the people at Fisher-Price have only released one engineer's tip of the month in the last year - despite the fact it appears their intention was to do this once a month. Maybe this post can serve as a bit of poke to get them to jump start what could be a really interesting feature on their website.

The community has lots of great ideas like this and so I am creating this blog post as a way to give you a chance to sound off and be heard.

Do you have what you consider to be a great 'engineer's tip'? Share it with us by doing one of the following:

1. post a comment on the blog by clicking the comments link at the end of this post
2. send an email to geotraxblog {AT} gmail.com.

Let us know the details of a great GeoTrax tip you have stumbled on during your GeoTrax playtime.

GeoAir Flight #628 to GeoTown....Delayed?

2008-07-03T15:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, apparently I got a bit ahead of myself. I love the irony of it all...it is like waiting for a friend at the airport only to learn their flight has been delayed again...only in this case, we are waiting for the airport to arrive.

Latest status on Amazon for the release of the GeoTrax Airport reads,

"Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

I suspect we will be waiting until August for all the new GeoAir sets to be released. Amazon currently lists a release date of August 18th for the following sets:

* GeoAir RC Plane
* GeoAir Expansion Set

And they are on sale for $10 off right now.

Now, let's hope they don't change the gate number...

GeoTrax GeoAir - Coming in June & August?

2008-06-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

It looks like we will have to wait only a few more days for the much anticipated release of the new line of GeoTrax...well, at least for the Airport that is. If you are paying any attention to these items on Amazon.com you will notice they have now added a release date for June 25th for the airport and the other sets are set for August.

* GeoAir Airport
* GeoAir RC Plane
* GeoAir Expansion Set

Consult Amazon for the latest dates as I assume these are subject to change.

Fisher-Price has also added more images to their site for the new GeoTrax Airport. Take a look at the following pictures:

* Child playing with the GeoAir Airport set
* Jumbo attached to the sky rail
* New airplane remote controller
* Captain Jim riding the elevator up to the control tower
* Sky track connect method illustrated
* Another one of Jumbo and Captain Jim

New "Flying Lesson" GeoTrax Video starring Loopy Loco and Darren

2008-05-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a Memorial Day camping trip with my family and noticed the Fisher-Price 2008 catalog in our mailbox. I thought I would take a peek and see if there was any mention of GeoAir inside. Unfortunately, the latest items appearing for the GeoTrax set were the following:

* Gritty & Farmer Earl
* Swifty & Kevin (Chopper)
* Hauler & Big Rob

Later, I decided to get on the Official GeoTrax website and see if they have started mentioning anything about GeoAir yet. I did find that they have released a new Video on the website called Flying Lesson with some of the new GeoTrax characters.

Loopy Loco is a yellow and red stunt plane that likes doing loops--his captain is Darren. Captain Jim and Jumbo appear to be the jumbo jet commercial airplane and pilot set that come with the new airport.

The video is a lot of fun I am sure your kids will really enjoy watching it. Tune in to see if Darren will learn from Captain Jim the importance of being a team player in GeoTown.

Don't Forget, you can pre-order some of the new GeoAir sets online (and take advantage of FREE Shipping):

* GeoAir High Flying Airport
* GeoAir RC Plane and Pilot Figure
* GeoAir Expansion Set Assortment

GeoTrax GeoAir Airport Instruction Sheet Now Available

2008-04-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

I just noticed the GeoTrax GeoAir Instruction Sheet is available online if you would like to take a look.

You can pre-order some of the new GeoAir sets online (and take advantage of FREE Shipping):

* GeoAir High Flying Airport
* GeoAir RC Plane and Pilot Figure
* GeoAir Expansion Set Assortment

This will give you a good idea of all the parts that go into building the new airport and how the GeoTrax 'Air Track' fits together.

Looks like, similar to the remote control trains, the RC airplane will require six "AAA" batteries (three "AAA" batteries for the plane and three for the remote). Starting and stopping you GeoTrax RC airplane is done via a start and stop button on the remote (which you have probably already noticed is shape like a control wheel or yoke for a real aircraft).

A couple other subtle things I noticed:

A new logo which now reads GeoTrax Transportation System (vs. the old GeoTrax Rail & Road System)
There appears to be a movable elevator that carries the included GeoTrax figure to the top of the traffic control tower
It seems there is only one way to configure the air track and there is no mention of adding any additional track to the set to create a longer flight path :(

Anyway, should be lots of fun.