Correction on 2007 Lead Paint Recall

Watch for Red Engine with Yellow Trim

I just discovered that the mostly red and white GeoTrax train engine, part of Special Track Pack set K3013, that was recalled for lead paint violations in 2007 is not quite the one I thought it was.

The recalled engine had yellow trim for the ladders and (what I think are) horns on top of the cab. Those horns may be lights. My apologies to those who know more about them than I.

A similar engine (set H5705) was also produced that has silver paint in those spots instead of the yellow. This engine is just fine.

You can see pictures of each here at GeoTrax Packs.

I wish I hadn't mistakenly thrown away several engines that I thought were the recalled ones. Oh well, live and learn.

Can You Help Identify These GeoTrax Pieces?

Three Mystery GeoTrax Pieces Evade Identification

I have the three GeoTrax items shown above - a fireman dressed mostly in yellow, a fire engine painted mostly white, and an ambulance disguised as a yellow taxi.

I haven't been able to determine which sets these originally belonged to. It's possible that the fireman and the fire engine were both part of the same set. There are no product IDs on either of them. The taxi is labeled L6374 on the bottom which is the identifier for the 2007 set called Ambulance with Stat and Stewart.

Do you own any of these pieces? If so, do you know for sure which sets they were originally part of? Having the original packaging would help a lot. I haven't found a box online that shows any of these.

Here are close-up shots of each of them.

If you have any information on any of these pieces, I would appreciate your letting me know. You can use this Contact Form or the comment section below to get in touch with me. I'll give a free copy of my GeoTrax Compendium and Checklist to the first person(s) who can positively identify each (that is, any one) of them.

Thanks!

UPDATE: After acquiring a total of 3 of the fire engines, I decided to try asking Fisher-Price about them. I'm not sure why I didn't think of this earlier. According to their information, the fire engine and fireman were a bonus that came with the Grand Central Station in 2007. The set was sold as M4686 exclusively at Walmart.

I think I'll ask next about the taxi and will update this if needed.

GeoTrax Packs Store Is Another Place to Buy GeoTrax Trains

GeoTrax Packs Store Now Open for Business

I recently decided I had enough surplus material - GeoTrax sets and pieces - to start offering them for sale on GeoTraxPacks.com. So I did a little research to see if the WordPress plugin called WooCommerce was still the best storefront available. The reviews claimed it still was at the top of the heap, so I installed it and started adding GeoTrax sets to it.

You can now buy a fair number of GeoTrax sets (securely, of course) directly from GeoTrax Packs, if you have (or create) a PayPal account and a shipping address in the United States. Sorry, I'm not prepared to sell outside the US at this time. The shipping costs would be prohibitive.

Why Should I Buy Directly from GeoTrax Packs?

The main reason to buy GeoTrax directly from GeoTraxPacks.com is the cost. Other sites, like eBay and Amazon, charge a fee for every sale. That's how they make their profit, and that's fine. Since I don't charge fees to myself, I can offer sets for less and still make a profit for myself.

I'm starting with complete and nearly complete sets in the store. Eventually I'll add smaller bits and pieces such as those currently found in the spreadsheet at the bottom of the For Sale page.

In the future I'll probably also discount some items. While it's possible to do that on the other sale sites, it feels like it will be easier to do so on my own site.

Should the unthinkable happen and I have my accounts closed at those other sites (as I know has happened without warning to other sellers), I'll still be able to offer these great toys to you on GeoTrax Packs.

I hope you can find what you need and want at the store. As always, let me know if there's something in particular that you're looking for and can't find. I may have one or be able to get one for you.

GeoTrax Layout Galleries Page Created at GeoTrax Packs

Now You Can See Pictures of GeoTrax Layouts

Many of you GeoTrax fans have visited GeoTraxPacks.com looking for track layout ideas. I've always had a page there that discusses track layouts. It pointed you to other sources of layouts, such as Bing, but it never showed you any layouts right on the site itself, unless you include what is visible in most of the pictures of starter sets.

That just changed today. I now have a gallery of layouts that I setup myself right on GeoTrax Packs. There's only one set of pictures posted there so far, but I plan to add more (complex) layouts in the near future.

So check out the GeoTrax Layout Galleries page now and return there in the next few days to see what I've added.

GeoTrax Videos Show How To Use the Trains

GeoTrax Videos Are in the Works

I've started creating the videos that highlight the moving parts of each GeoTrax set that I have access to. As of this writing, I have nine of them done.

I decided to group them into playlists with five videos in each list. The first list contains these sets.

• Tracktown Railway
• Mt. Blast Construction Co.
• Fast Response Rescue Co.
• Crosstown Express
• Load 'em Up Gravel Co.

When finished, the second list will include these sets.

• Whirly Bird Rescue
• Big Falls Wrecking
• Mix 'n Go Work Crew
• Rapid Rescue Fire Squad
• Cross Valley Junction

There are some sets that sadly don't deserve their own video. A set like Freightway Transport, which is just a truck cab and a trailer, doesn't have any special moving parts. A video of me pushing it around the track would be a waste of time. Sets that consist of only track pieces fall into this category too.

Thusfar, I've been able to finish several videos each day. If I can continue at this pace, I should have them done in a month or two. I have over 100 more videos I can add!

GeoTrax Videos - My Next Big Project

Creating Videos of GeoTrax Sets in Action, But First...

As you may already know (or have guessed), I have a lot of GeoTrax sets. They reside in various rooms of my home mostly on shelves I've purchased just for this purpose. Some are simply in stacks of boxes on the floor.

All of these sets were fairly well organized but not quite as well as I wanted them to be. So right now I'm in the middle of reorganizing them, so I can find what I need more easily and quickly. I should be finished with this task soon - hopefully by the end of this week.

When I'm done with the reorg, I plan to create some GeoTrax videos.

One GeoTrax Set, One GeoTrax Video

Still photographs, such as those currently on GeoTrax Packs, are wonderful for showing the pieces you get in each set. However, they don't give you a sense of all the fun you can have with them.

So here's what I intend to do: I want to make a short video for each GeoTrax set (that I own) showing what you can do with it.

Some of the larger (usually starter sets) have many moving parts. Sometimes you can use the train to activate a building. Normally you can manually make such actions happen too.

Some sets have remote controllers that make trains (and other types of vehicles) move and make sounds.

Some of the smaller sets have pieces you control by hand only. Though these may seem unimportant to you at first, your child probably will disagree. Sometimes all a child wants is a simple toy. (Clanging pots and pans, anyone?)

This will probably take weeks, if not months, to complete all the videos that I have in mind right now. Watch for the first of them in the next two or three weeks. I'll be posting them on YouTube and linking to them from GeoTrax Packs.

GeoTrax Compendium and Checklist Now Available

The Compendium and Checklist Is Here!

I finally decided to release the first version of my GeoTrax Compendium and Checklist. It's as ready for "prime time" as Version 1 is going to be.

I don't think there are any outright errors in it, other than those that are due to lack of verifiable information. So you should be able to trust at least 99% of the data you see there.

UPDATE: I did find a few small mistakes. They'll be corrected in the next version.

I am charging a small fee ($4.95) for access to it. I'm considering making this a one-time fee; that is, if you buy the current version, all future versions would be free. We'll see about that later though. If you buy a copy, you probably won't really need a future version.

You can purchase your copy here at GeoTrax Packs. You can see a sample page there too. Enjoy!