Carlisle & Finch is a producer of nautical equipment and the inventor of the electric
toy train, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Founded in 1894 by Robert Finch and Morton Carlisle, the company had two products, an electric toy
train and a carbon arc searchlight. The trains, which entered the marketplace in 1897, stood about 5.5
inches tall, were made of metal, colorful, and highly detailed, and ran on metal track with rails
two inches apart. Initial production of the electric train line used three rail track, then shortly
conversion to two rail track took place. Early products included only trollies but expanded to include
an entire line eventually. C&F trains were heavy and detailed catering to the high end market. C&F was the
earliest leader in US train production until being overtaken by Ives.
They were the first complete electric-powered trains to be introduced to the
marketplace. These trains were initially powered using dry cell batteries.
Three other smaller, short-lived U.S. manufacturers, including Voltamp,
adopted Carlisle & Finch's 2-inch track. Carlisle & Finch's offerings were by definition non-standard,
its status as the inventor of the electric train notwithstanding.
At the beginning of World War I, the United States Government ordered Carlisle and Finch to cease toy
train production in order to concentrate on producing searchlights for the U.S. Navy and United States
Coast Guard. At the end of the war, the company did not resume toy train production, choosing
instead to concentrate on its profitable searchlight business. Within a decade, it was the
largest producer of military searchlights in the country.
Finch bought out Carlisle's share of the company in 1917. Over the ensuing decades, it began
producing equipment for civilian use, with its searchlights being used in lighthouses and on
offshore oil rigs.
Carlisle & Finch website
