I have a Thomas the train battery operated engine and don't know how to put a battery in it. It is die cast and has a screw on the bootom that is a phillips shape ( I unscrewed that but it wouldn't come apart because there are also 2 triangle shaped scerws. Please help.

Unscrew the screw under Annie, then pull on the top part of Annie to reveal another section where more batteries go. put water in the hole on top of Thomas, not the funnel, but there's another small hole on the top of Thomas. Now Thomas will puff steam! You are lucky to have found this train, he is super fast and very unique because he puffs the steam! we have one, unfortunately my youngest son broke the chassis that connects Thomas and Annie, so it no longer works properly. You will need a dropper to put the water in Thomas.

I am having the same problem with our control steam sounds thomas train. I've been searching to no avail. If anyone can help me please leave me a message thank you!

http://service.mattel.com/us/product_detail.asp?id=R9634&Ntt=R9634&Pn=1&Brand=Fisher-Price+Friends&Cat=Thomas+The+Train+TrackMaster

2 options.

1.if its the kind that fits on the wooden track look for a screw (philips/star screwdriver) on the underside of Thomas near his face. The body shell should lift off.you will then see the battery.

2 If it's the plastic blue track you have to squeeze the right center wheel and left center wheel. Thomas has 6 wheels so the 2 center/middle wheels, after squeezing this will then make the top portion pop off.

My child has a similar train but it is a Thomas instead of a Percy. There is probably a screw on the bottom. My son's train has three screws and the one in the middle (+) is the one that opens the train so I can put a battery in it.

A few things can cause this: The battery is weak/bad. The connector at the battery might be worn out and have intermittent contact. Those are fairly easy things to check. Next, the GO button might be worn out internally (high resistance contacts)-believe it or not, the whole motor current goes through that switch. You would need to remove top of the roof to access the button. Or, open the speaker cover, pull out the control board and bypass Go switch wires to check for train proper operation. As you are already there, inspect the control/sound board. The last thing that comes to my mind is the motor itself, it is under the seat. Check contacts to motor, plus you can spray contact cleaner or, if you don't have anything else, alcohol. Avoid using WD40 - it does the job, but collects new dirt very very fast). There is always a chance of pinched/loose wire, or mechanical problem with gear assembly/jamming or so.

The wires will have pulled off the circuit board inside.

Remove screws (force a hex driver in there) and solder wire back on.

Train surgey (geddit) is very fiddly. Have a drink first! ;-)

Hey. I was looking for the same thing and found this answer on yahoo answers:
"loosen the phillips-head screw on the underside front center of the jet engine train (you might not have noticed it - it is behind the coupling magnet assembly, which you can move to the side and also has an opening to access the screw) - once the screw is loosened, you can lift up the 'jet engine' from the base to access the battery enclosure"
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071225073953AAHYJKb

i will try my best to help, i had the same problem with my sons as well..i was in the same situation:).You have to take the top of the train and the bottom of the train apart, seperate the top & bottom,then the battery compartment is inbetween the two..sounds confusing i know..they are very hard to pry apart.Hoped I helped!

its defective there was a recall 4 days ago