Birney Car 21 and the Trolley That Refused to Leave Fort Collins
Built in 1919, retired in 1951 and restored by volunteers, the city's historic streetcar still runs on Mountain Avenue in season.
The most beloved vehicle in Fort Collins has four wheels, runs on rails and is more than a century old. Birney Car 21, a streetcar built in 1919 for the Fort Collins Municipal Railway, carried passengers until the city's streetcar system closed in 1951. It was the only car to remain in Fort Collins, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and — restored and run by volunteers — it still carries riders on Mountain Avenue in season.
The heritage line runs between City Park and downtown, a short trip that compresses the city's transit history into a single ride. Fort Collins once depended on streetcars; the restored line, operated by the Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society in partnership with the city, keeps that memory mechanical rather than theoretical — you can board it, hear it and ride the same kind of car earlier generations used to get to work and to town.
Car 21's survival was not guaranteed. After the system closed, the car spent years on display before restoration returned it to operating condition, and the volunteer society that runs it has kept it going for decades since service resumed in the 1980s. Heritage operations like this one run on unglamorous work: track, overhead wire, maintenance and trained volunteer crews, funded by fares, donations and persistence.
The trolley also makes a point about the present. Modern Fort Collins moves by Transfort bus, by the MAX rapid transit line on Mason Street and, famously, by bicycle — the city is a Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community. The little Birney car is the ancestor of that system, proof that public transit in this city is not a new idea but an old one that came back in new forms.
Service is seasonal, so November riders should check the society's schedule before heading to Mountain Avenue. Fort Collins Choice City News will note the trolley's return each season — some stories are about what changes in a city, and some, like Car 21, are about what a city decides to keep.
