Carlisle & Finch is given credit for the first wide spread manufacturing of electric toy trains in America ..beginning in1896 with a small trolley having a 2 pole motor and belt drive . 1897 C&F expands the line with a electric mining train ... at first thought you might consider that an odd choice but being based in Cincinnati with many coal mines near by perhaps the choice was a wise one ...as many sets were sold over the next 18 years .
1899 C&F improved the motor to a 3 pole and gear drive ...adding paper label lettering .
1903 C&F improved the line again by adding embossed sides on thier product leaving the paper labels for the collectors to hunt down.
C&F standardized 2" two rail for American electric toy trains . Knapp , Howard , and Voltamp all hopped on the 2" track ...things were rolling along just fine till that upstart Lionel who could not figure out how to use a ruler or count number of needed rails showed up on the scene.
Running DC 4-6 volts ...lever out the top is a manual reverse ... incredibly basic construction defying all reasonable sense of run- ability....yet C&F made trains that are just as happy to run at 120+ years old as if they were new.
Please see link for action packed video of the little C&F mining train
Cheers Carey
