America's FIRST Electric Toy Trains Were NOT Lionel!

We all know the story of how young Joshua Lionel Cowen began manufacturing electric toy trains in 1901, and how the company he founded went on to become America’s greatest toy train company. But what about electric toy trains BEFORE Lionel? Wait, you ask, electric toy trains BEFORE Lionel?

Yes! There were several firms, both in Europe and America that beat Lionel to the punch in producing electric toy trains, and I recently had the opportunity to see some of these early trains at the current office and manufacturing facility of the company that made them more than a century ago, Carlisle & Finch. Keep in mind as you view the photos in this video that the facility is an active office and factory, and most of the trains and other artifiacts are displayed in various places throughout the facility - the lobby - conference rooms - and a small display area. And since I visited the facility on a regular work day for the company, conditions were not ideal for photography, with the room lighting often casting reflections on the glass display cases.

Still, I thought documenting the trains on display was a worthy enough endeavor to offset these difficulties.

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Toy Train Tips And Tricks is a channel devoted to the operation, repair, history, and collecting of classic 3-rail O and O27 gauge trains made by Lionel, Marx, K-Line, Menards, and other manufacturers.

Keep the trains running!

Music and Visual Effects Courtesy of Pixabay.com

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