Fort Collins Municipal Railway Birney Safety Streetcar No. 21 is a streetcar (or

trolley Trolley may refer to: Vehicles and components * Tram, or trolley or streetcar, a rail vehicle that runs on tramway tracks * Trolleybus, or trolley, an electric bus drawing power from overhead wires using trolley poles ** Trolleytruck, a trolleyb ...

) in Fort Collins,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Built in 1919 by the

American Car Company The American Car Company was a streetcar manufacturing company based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It was one of the country's leading streetcar builders during the heyday of streetcar operation. Middleton, William D. (1967). ''The Time ...

for the

Fort Collins Municipal Railway The Fort Collins Municipal Railway operated streetcars in Fort Collins, Colorado, Fort Collins, Colorado, from 1919 until 1951. Since 1984, a section of one of the former routes has been in operation as a seasonal heritage streetcar service, un ...

, it is a type of streetcar known as a Birney "Safety Car". It was listed on the National Register in 1984 and is one of fewer than 10 streetcars listed.

Original use

Introduced in 1915, the Birney Safety Car was a new standardized streetcar design that encompassed new safety features; it was also lighter in weight than earlier designs and more economical to operate. Its economies gave a "new lease on life" to many small-town streetcar systems.Middleton, William (1967). ''The Time of the Trolley'', p. 137. The Fort Collins streetcar system used Birney cars exclusively from 1919, when the system was municipalized, until its abandonment on June 30, 1951. No. 21 was built in 1919 and entered service on May 30 of that year. It remained in use for 32 years, until the abandonment of the streetcar system in Fort Collins in 1951. Car 21 was one of four cars purchased new by the

(FCMR) at that time (numbered 20–23), built by the

, of St. Louis. FCMR expanded its small fleet with additional Birney cars in 1920 (one car) and 1924 (two), but the fleet remained composed solely of Birney-type cars for the remainder of the system's life. By the end of service in 1951, the Fort Collins Municipal Railway was the last streetcar system in the United States to be using any Birney cars. At least five of the seven cars were preserved by individuals or groups after the closure. Car 21 was the only one to remain in Fort Collins, where it was displayed outside the Pioneer Museum, predecessor of the Fort Collins Museum.

Restoration and return to operation

Fort Collins streetcar 21 at City Park (1987)

In 1977, the Fort Collins Junior Women's Club proposed giving 1919-built streetcar 21 a cosmetic restoration, as the car had become dilapidated from years of exposure. This proposal evolved into a more ambitious plan, to restore the car to operating condition and restore a section of the former streetcar system as an operating

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

. With this goal, the

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society (FCMRS) was formed, on March 31, 1980. A new carbarn was built at the west end of Mountain Avenue in 1982–1983, and car 21 was moved into it on August 21, 1983, following which volunteers from FCMRS began work restoring car 21. Under an agreement signed in 1981, the city permitted FCMRS to restore a section of track along West Mountain Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue and eventually operate the streetcar along it. The heritage streetcar operation would use the same name as the former streetcar-transit system, the

. Restoration of the section of track and of Birney Safety Streetcar 21 was completed in 1984, and the first public trips on the new heritage streetcar line took place on December 29, 1984 – the 77th anniversary of the original introduction of electric streetcar service in Fort Collins.

Description

Interior of Fort Collins Birney streetcar 21 in 1987

Like many streetcars, car 21 is a "double-ended" car – capable of being operated from either end. It has a single door on each side. The backs of its wooden-bench seats are reversible, allowing the seats to face either end of the car. This type of seat was also known as a "walkover" seat, as the motorman could walk down the car's center aisle at the end of the line and flip the backs of the seats over. The 600

Volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defi ...

s DC that powers the car's

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

is collected from the overhead trolley wire via a

trolley pole A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. Th ...

on the roof; only one of the two poles is in use at a time, depending on the direction of travel. The car has a single

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

and, overall, is approximately long and wide. Fort Collins car 21 is one of three Birney streetcars listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the others being Fort Collins Municipal Railway No. 22 and

Birney Safety Streetcar No. 224 Birney Safety Streetcar No. 224 is a streetcar (or trolley) in Fort Smith, Arkansas, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1926 by the American Car Company division of the J. G. Brill Company, it is a type of streetc ...

, in

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

References

External links

Fort Collins Municipal Railway
website * {{NRHP url, id=84000860, title=Photographs, photos=y accompanying NRHP inventory form Railway vehicles on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado History of Fort Collins, Colorado Streetcars in Colorado Transportation in Fort Collins, Colorado Train-related introductions in 1919 National Register of Historic Places in Larimer County, Colorado

Original use

Restoration and return to operation

Description

See also

References

External links