Quality, creativity and entertainment

accessories expanded year on year to complement the play landscape and draw creative young minds into an immersive BRIO world. And so, Brio World was conceived. There are no limitations, just endless possibilities for play, reflecting the real world that children can experience and learn from.

Suitable for all

It may not be widely known, but BRIO origins began with producing wooden baskets in 1884, in a small village called Osby in southern Sweden and a young entrepreneur called Ivar Bengtsson. From making baskets, to the first toy, the Osby horse in 1907, the company he founded became a Purveyor to the Royal Court of Sweden in the 1940s.

In 1908, Ivar transferred the company to his three sons and the company was thereafter known as BRIO, an acronym for the Ivarsson brothers of Osby. Four decades later in 1958 the first BRIO ‘classic wooden railway’ launched and was sold to retailers across Europe; 65 years on, BRIO remains an aspirational brand to children around the world with continued evolution in product development. Distributed in more than 20 countries across the world the famous red and white BRIO logo stands for quality, creativity and entertainment. It remains as popular with today’s young children as it does their great-grandparents who were the early adopters of the much-loved wooden track and its trains.

To celebrate 65 years of BRIO, one of the most popular train sets has been relaunched and is testament to the enduring popularity of the much-loved brand. Alongside this heritage purchase sits 2023’s latest innovation, the Turbo Train; a battery-operated train with a boost button lasting for five seconds.

From the early days of magnetically connected trains, the wooden track and

BRIO embraces everyone, appealing to all children and grown-ups too. It can’t get much better than families sprawled across the floor, immersed in imaginative play together. A passing train can make farm animals come to life with young playful hands; a bridge can collapse letting the child become the hero and decide what’s going to happen next. We call this open-ended play.

Playing in a BRIO World can last as long as players want it to, with never-ending entertainment, which is made all the more enjoyable because all BRIO products are interchangeable. Subsequently, BRIO World was launched with a variety of destinations, trains, bridges, tunnels, lift and load sites, locations, mountains and accessories all with a focus to create a deep and enriched experience, as well as many hours of captivating play. Every year new lines are launched and expand the BRIO universe.

More than just giggles!

Times have changed, but the way kids learn and develop remains the same. That’s why BRIO products have clean, simple designs that spark children’s creativity and imagination. But BRIO’s innovation and growth story doesn’t end there. In 2020, Smart Tech Sound launched, adding layers of functionality and play value with integrated technology and design bringing together sound, light and action, all of which can be controlled by the creatively minded child.

BRIO is no longer just a wooden railway brand, but a universe of play with decades of innovation, embracing technology alongside tradition, in harmony. The Smart Tech Sound Record and Play Engine enables players to record their own sounds and when used alongside the Action Tunnel Station the train comes under the control of the station’s demands – slow down, flash its lights or play a sound; the linked BRIO Smart Tech Sound App can even change the station sound to New York, London or even Malmo, where BRIO is still headquartered today, located in the eaves of one of Sweden’s busy working train stations.

From the Mighty Red Action Locomotive, which famously took BRIO to new dimensions with battery power and bright front lights, to the introduction of BRIO characters on products such as the Travel Train, right up to recent innovation with the 2021 launch of the Battery Operated Steaming Train (as seen on ITV’s This Morning), which uses water to create real steam as it choo choo’s around BRIO World.

The 2023 launch of the Turbo Train is the brand’s latest nod in ensuring that BRIO remains as relevant today as it did back when its first wooden train set made its mark in toy shops around the world more than six decades ago. Sixty-five years on, the BRIO wooden track railway system is a brand with a bright future that continues to entertain tomorrow’s generation of inquisitive minds.

BRIO products are available for purchase in all good high street retailers, as well as online at Ravensburger.co.uk and amazon.co.uk