Cross Valley Junction – Where the Rail Meets the Road
Note: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
The Cross Valley Junction is another good starter set giving you lots of track, some vehicles (a truck and two cars, in this case), some buildings, and more. Both the Pipe Works and the Depot have moving parts for even more fun.
The Pipe Works is the same one found in the Tracktown Railway but in different colors. The depot has a small crane you can use to load and unload your train cars. It’s designed to hold cubes like the brown crate included in this set.
Since this set doesn’t have a remote controller, you may find that it is less intimidating for the very young who are just getting started with GeoTrax. Once they become familiar with how this whole system works, you may want to add another set that does include a remote controller.
It’s not that the remotes are difficult to work, but if you are getting a set for a 2 year old, you may want to give them something to look forward to. I’ve also found that the noises that the trains and remotes make can be a little scary for the very young.
The red pipes are unique to this set. Other sets with the Pipe Works have yellow pipes. Unfortunately, these red ones can be just as hard to find as the yellow. Consider yourself very fortunate if you get a set that includes all three of them.
I think that part of the problem is they don’t look very GeoTrax-ish. A parent may think they belong to some other toy and not associate them with a set like this. So when it comes time to get rid of it all, the pipes are no where to be found.
The side of the freight car (holding the brown crate, as shown in the photo above) opens for ease of loading and unloading with the crane. This is one of several features found in various GeoTrax sets that you might not discover at first. In fact, you or your child may only happen upon such things by happy accident.
I found it a little unusual that this set includes a bridge. There are no pieces with which to raise the bridge. I guess you have to imagine that the tracks are going over a shallow ravine or something that needed a special track where normal rails just wouldn’t do the job.
On the other hand, the addition of just a few pieces of road track makes a lot of sense. You can put the road signs and crossing gate nearby just like they would be in the real world. The tree and the billboard are nice touches as well.
Watch many of the things you can do at the Junction. It’s the fifth video in the second playlist.
A complete Cross Valley Junction set consists of the following items.
- Depot
- Pipe Works
- 4 Curved Rail Tracks
- 4 Straight Rail Tracks
- Cross Track
- 2 On/Off Ramps (Road style)
- Trestle (Black Bridge)
- 2 Railroad Crossing Signs
- Wide Billboard showing a train
- Crossing Gate
- Deciduous Tree
- Truck
- Freight Car
- Pipe Car
- Crate Cargo
- 3 Red Pipes
