Although you may think that electric trains are recent toys, they have actually been around for quite some time. It was in 1884 that they very first was patented. Not too long after the patent was acquired, the first electric train was manufactured by Carlyle and Finch in the United States 1897. Various companies, such as Ives, also began to create the popular toys.
It wasn’t long before Ives became the most popular producer of electric trains in the United States. The company managed to manufacture various types of electric trains, and many of then looked much like full sized trains.
Bing, Marklin, and Karl Bub were German toy makers who soon became fierce competitors of American electric train manufacturers. However, in the beginning of the 20th century, tariff regulations worked against those European train manufacturers, and American companies once again came out on top as top electric train producers.
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Collectors looking for desirable electric trains should look for those created not only by Ives, but also by American Flyer and Lionel, who managed to surpass Ives in the 1920s and eventually absorbed the company in 1931.
Today, Lionel is still known as the world’s top electric train manufacturer.
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