We bought an enormous box of train/car/boat stuff at Once Upon a Child a while back. We didn’t have a train set and this one said Melissa & Doug on the bottom, so it seemed like a good deal.
When I got home, I did some research and found out that the sets were no longer being made. It seemed that a company called “Lights, Camera, Interaction!” was possibly bought by or merged with Melissa and Doug. I guess maybe the LCI thing could have always been a subset of of M&D, I’m not sure. The series is called Puzzle World. At first I thought we had all of the sets, but now I know there is something with a barn and something with a helicopter that we don’t have. I think we have 4 sets, but there may be some extra track and I couldn’t because there are so many pieces.
There is the train set, called “Ramblin’ Railway.” Here is a picture of the box that I got from the Sea of Toys Angelfire website. The big feature of this one is the arch (which is the same arch from the Arched Bridge Set).:
Another one from that same website is the Big City Adventure. The big features in this one are the really tall city hall and the drawbridge with the working crank.
The last set is is Dock’n Discover set that features boats, water and harbor pieces. I found a picture of it from Little Kids Stuff.
This is neat because you can use the crank to magnetically pick up and move the cargo and the fish. A pic from our set:
Another shot of the sea wall.
We have a roundabout and some buildings with tops like these, so we must also have this set that someone (catlovergail) at Ebay calls Skyscraper Roundabout. Here is the picture that I lifted from their ad.
The main reason that I wanted to put this post together is because I had such a hard time figuring out what went together and how. A lot of the buildings were not glued anymore and so it was confusing. Maybe they weren’t supposed to be glued and the previous owners tried unsuccessfully to glue it together. I used the above pictures as guides and tried to assemble some of the pieces back together. I’m hoping that this will help some other parents out there who are trying to figure out what goes where.
First of all, the boat. This one was easy because there was an exploded shot up at Little Kids Stuff. Note the three flat pieces. The yellow, black and red one is a vertical door to keep the cargo in. The plain one with the red (helipad?) mark fits between the two crew areas on the top. The last one which is not painted at all, but has grooves and 2 pegs is the roof on the boat.
Here is a top view from our boat:
Drawbridge:
I cropped this out of someone’s (dudlbg06) Ebay post. The train can go over or you can wind the drawbridge up and the boat can go under.
Here are some pics from our set of the drawbridge:
Arched Bridge:
The train can go over. You can put water or road underneath. This pic is also cropped from that Ebay post:
Here is our arch assembled:
Here are the Town Hall pieces according to the package, but I guess you could assemble any of the buildings however you want.
I hope that these pics help you. If you have any more tips, clear pictures or instructions, I’d appreciate them.
Just wanted to say thanks for this website as I brought a set of those for my son, and I could not figure out what s all about so I found your website that helped me to put some together for a start!
I recently acquired the majority of “big city” along with the label and two pages of illustrated instructions. Can I email you a scan of those? It includes the drawbridge, city hall, train station and station base in addition to a station house and three different track/road layouts.
Hi I have just brought a box of doug and Mandy’s jigsaws from the red cross shop there was no instruction with them I think I have may have the ones you mentioned having the instructions to if at all possible I would love a copy of them at the moment I am sat looking at a pile of peices and have no idea how to begin thankyou for your time regards Susan Pearman
I just bought these sets at a garage sale. If u or anyone you know is interested in buying them you have my email address. I HAVE THE DOCK, SKYSCRAPER, AND BUSY AIRPORT.
THANKS,
eRICA
I’m interested in the Melissa & Doug puzzles if you still have them.
E-MAIL IS EDORANDO@GMAIL.COM
Oh my goodness, I’ve just come across this product in a charity shop, and am blown away by it! I have 3 boxes, which *include* the boxes and instructions. Big city adventure, the boat one, another one. Plus I think it includes pieces from a 4th (farm) set. Can’t find much info about it even eg: http://www.melissaanddoug.com/wooden-train-sets
I can’t believe this product isn’t widely available, it’s brilliant, particularly as it is compatible with Thomas tracks and trains!
I was looking on ebay to find out what my set might be worth. I have no interest in selling it as I plan to keep this and all my Brio and Thomas track and engines for my future grandchildren. But like others, it is hard to find information without knowing what to call it. Lucky for my accountant-like tendencies at organization, I pulled out my instruction sheets to my Big City Adventure #607 set and googled…thus finding you! If someone needs the 4-pages of instruction sheets I’d be happy to email a jpg or fax them to you. It offers instructions on 3 layouts as well as how to assemble the buildings and drawbridge.
PS I bought mine years ago at Marshalls…
I just found like 5 boxes of my old puzzle world stuff from when I was a kid. I’m 17 now and I’m back to building cities with them. <3 I saw one set on ebay go for like 70 dollars. I was heart broken when my mom told me they were no longer being made.
Thank you so much for this site. I purchased some Thomas Take Along trains and a box of puzzle pieces at an estate sale, and had no idea how to assemble the pieces. I found your web site and at least had an idea. After much searching, I discovered I only have some pieces for the airport, the boat, etc. but at least I have the track, only the Take Along trains don’t work on this track…oh, well…so I got a wooden train and now have a set. I do have random building pieces that I just can’t throw away so if anyone is looking for a piece, perhaps I will have it and they can have it. Again, thanks for this very informative site.
I just purchased the complete set of the skyscraper roundabout in excellent condition. It came with instructions and there are actually 3 different layouts you can build. I can’t find much info about it. if anyone has info, i would appreciate it.
Just saw your webpage; thought that you might like to know that I was going to sell some Puzzle World sets on ebay Australia (don’t know what the postage to USA would be). My kids just loved it – they built cities in their rooms, and then ran Thomas track through the passageway to connect their different sets.