1927 Dorfan: the smallest of the “Big Four” by Keith Wills
I
n the 1920’s, four tinplate train companies were known as “The Big Four.” They were Ives,
Lionel,
American Flyer and newcomer Dorfan. The Dorfan company was the Ameri- can scion of Jos. Kraus-Fandor, Nurem- berg, Germany. Originally started in 1910 to produce export toy trains, its success led it to consider an American operation. Two Kraus cousins, brothers Milton and Julius Forchheimer, moved here in 1923 and in 1924 established the Dorfan line, a reversal of the par- ent company’s name. I’ll not go more into the history than to say readers will find excellent source materials here at the end. The line lasted until 1934, when it ceased production due to the 1929 Wall Street Crash, the ensu- ing Depression and in part, its intense, expensive manufacturing techniques. It was an exhilarating time. The economy was expanding and tinplate trains were in demand, which is where Dorfan started with Fandor’s help, in- cluding some designs. The smallest of the “Big Four,” Dorfan is perhaps not as familiar as the others, due in part to its short life and other factors which helped undermine it. The company oc- cupied two upper floors of a three story commercial building in Newark, New Jersey. By comparison, Ives’ Bridge- port, Connecticut, factory was larger by far, and produced a range of O and wide gauge windup and electric loco- motives and a range of freight and pas- senger cars. American Flyer had a large Chicago plant where it made cast iron clockwork locomotives, and elec- tric steam and electric outline locomo- tives in O and Wide Gauge as well as freight and passenger cars. Dorfan was decidedly the smaller, but it was the quality, innovative line which set high standards for Ives, Lionel and Ameri- can Flyer to catch up to. This month we examine a 1927 Dor- fan catalog, thanks to reader Ken Halverson, which gives us a glimpse where the company was two years into manufacture, before it expanded later in the decade. Initially producing O gauge in 1925, it started with two in- troductory level clockwork locomotives: a lithographed 5¹/₄″ electric outline
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LOCO-BUILDER LOCOMOTIVES
AUGUST 2012
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