Carlisle & Finch

Carlisle & Finch began in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a repair shop serving the local branch of General Electric. Its own history dates the company's founding to 1893 in one section and 1894 in another, when the owners branched into electric toys. The specialist train history says the company began making toy trains in September 1896. Its first products included brass trolleys powered by small electric motors and supplied with track. Early trains used belt drives; later models introduced geared drives and reversing switches. The range expanded to locomotives, passenger and freight cars, powered boats and automobiles, stations, bridges and other railway accessories.

The company issued its first train catalogue in 1898. It changed from three-rail to two-rail track and developed more detailed metal bodies, including embossed features. The train history dates its final train catalogue to 1915 and says government orders at the start of World War I redirected production to searchlights for the Navy and Coast Guard. Carlisle & Finch did not resume toy train production after the war, instead concentrating on searchlights and marine lighting. Its company history says Morten Carlisle sold his share in 1926, after which the Finch family held sole ownership. The company continued in lighting, later expanding its products for yacht, commercial marine and security use.