Birney

This article is about the mass transit vehicle. For other uses, see Birney (disambiguation).
Fort Collins Municipal Railway Birney car 21, built in 1919

A Birney or Birney Safety Car is a type of streetcar that was manufactured in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s. The design was small and light and was intended to be an economical means of providing frequent service at a lower infrastructure and labor cost than conventional streetcars. Production of Birney cars lasted from 1915 until 1930, and more than 6,000 of the original, single-truck version were built.[1] Several different manufacturers built Birney cars.[1] The design was "the first mass-produced standard streetcar (albeit with minor variations)"[2] in North America.

  1. ^ a b Middleton, William D. (1967). The Time of the Trolley, pp. 122–127, 210, 414. Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0-89024-013-2.
  2. ^ Young, Andrew D. (1997). Veteran & Vintage Transit. St. Louis, MO (US): Archway Publishing. p. 97. ISBN 0-9647279-2-7.