The item arrived 5 days late, but in good condition. Packing was excellent. The one major problem was that the lighting system of the train set did not work at all. The train ran very well around the track, but without operational lights it was difficult to see under my Christmas tree. I am sending it back for a replacement gift set. The second issue was that the track's power terminal connection was on a piece of straight track. This means that it cannot be set up as a round/circular track under the tree, but can only be set up as an oval track. I had to special order a complete 12 piece round 18" radius track and transformer in addition to the track that came with the gift set (because they don't give you the option of ordering just a single curved piece of track with a terminal connection point). Between the shipping costs, the item price and the cost of the additional round track and transformer/ speed controller, this gift set was a lot more expensive than what I originally wanted. I'm a diehard collector, though, so I was willing to pay the extra costs to own and modify this particular train set to my specific needs. My recommendation is that all train sets should contain an additional terminal connection option on a curved piece of track in the event you decide you only want to construct a circular track.