Kerry Decker TV Show - Dorfan Trains (1987)

"Up in the mountains of New Jersey" -- haha, that's from where I'm from. Amazingly, "Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco" still exists today... their web site says they've been in continuous operation as a private camp for Boy Scouts since the summer of 1927.

Thanks for the info!

Toy trains back then were often ran by a few large dry cell batteries about the size of a Pringles Chip can hooked to the track. Many folks had no electeicty yet, and most AC motors are "universal" and can run on DC or batteries fine too.. Even todays trains can often be run on a car battery (but dc motors can't use ac; & 12volt might make some trains go too fast, you might need a rheostat too (dial for resistance )....or a long enough train to slow the engine ;-) Battery op trains date to about the 1880s I think.
Dorfan used skill set education as a marketing tool, encouraging kids take them apart to learn. Closest I think we saw to that for a while, as company policy goes, was A.C. Gilbert (erector set and somewhat with electricity & the later American Flyer trains of the 50s.)