Dorfan was an American toy company based in Newark, New Jersey, specializing Dorfan 'O' gauge #155 0-4-0 die-cast blue-green steam outline clockwork engine & 4 wheel tender Dorfan 'O' gauge #55 0-4-0 cast steam outline electric engine & 6 wheel tender. 1930 version in black with brass trim and red wheelsin 'O' gauge and Wide gauge toy trains. 'Wide gauge' is the name Dorfan used for 'Standard gauge' since 'Standard gauge' was a Lionel trademark. Dorfan was founded in 1924 by Milton and Julius Forchheimer, two immigrants from Nüremberg, Germany, whose family was involved in the production of the Fandor trains, that were distributed throughout Europe, and exported to the United States. The name 'Dorfan' was derived from the name Fandor. A Fandor engineer and former Bing designer, John C. Koerber, was recruited in 1923 to be Chief Engineer, and help get Dorfan started. The name Fandor was made from the first names of Milton's and Julius' mother's sisters, Fanny and Dora. It is widely believed that Fandor Trains was desperate to recoup market share in the United States that it lost as a result of German Manufacturers being hit with very high import tariffs after WWI. Their plan was to create a separate United States based company to manufacture trains, avoid paying tariffs, and gain back market share. 1924 was a good year to start making and selling trains - business was booming and the stock market was on a roll. Dorfan opened for business at 137 Jackson St. in Newark, N.J. MORE AT THIS LINK http://www.tcawestern.org/dorfan.htm

It's really tough to find nice examples of Dorfan locomotives. This is due to the relatively small numbers of units produced, combined with catastrophic zinc-pest issues with their castings. Their sheet-metal freight cars are really nice and can occasionally be found in good condition. They had some nice gear...it's too bad so little of it has survived.

Fabulous video---sound comes in later by the way--Dorfan trains and accessories, layout in action---some beautiful buildings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQtWndMbe58

Found this Dorfan observation car recently in the train-list circulated by one of my go-to York dealers:A lot of paint loss here, I'm on the fence as to what actions to take. I might wait to see if I can find a matching coach before deciding if this should be refurbished.

The Dorfan passenger cars were unique in that they included cast hand-painted passenger figures at the windows. No printed silhouettes on frosted acetate for Dorfan (like postwar Lionel).

Paul II

I found a companion coach at York a while back, this in much better shape than the observation:



This will be handy when I get around to attempting a refurb of the observation, as the original color is fairly intact, along with some other details.