Riding Through History: A Journey on Birney Car No. 25 in Fort Collins

Fort Collins Birney Car Trolley with Darjeeling Tours Guests

If Colorado’s mountain railways are the dramatic headliners of the state’s rail story, then Birney Car No. 25 in Fort Collins is something quieter and rather more charming. No towering passes or dizzying canyon drops here. Instead, this beautifully restored electric streetcar glides gently through leafy neighbourhoods and along the edge of Colorado State University, offering a small but fascinating window into a very different era of American transport.

For travellers joining our Best of Colorado rail tour, this little slice of living history offers something unexpected. After days of steam locomotives, dramatic scenery and legendary mountain railroads, the Fort Collins trolley reminds you that railways once shaped everyday life in towns and cities across America.

A Streetcar From a Different Age

Birney Car No. 25 dates from 1919, when electric streetcars were transforming American towns. Built by the American Car Company in St. Louis, it is a classic example of a Birney Safety Car, a design that helped keep smaller tram systems running during financially difficult times. The Birney was something of a technological breakthrough for its day. Earlier streetcars required both a driver and a conductor, but the Birney design allowed one-person operation, dramatically reducing costs for local transport systems. Safety innovations included a “dead man’s control” which stopped the car automatically if the driver released the handle.
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More than 6,000 Birney cars were built between 1915 and 1930. Today, only a handful remain in operation. Fort Collins’ lovingly restored No. 25 is one of the best preserved.

A Tram That Refused to Disappear

Fort Collins once had a small but busy streetcar system running through the city’s main streets. Like so many American tram networks, it fell victim to the rise of the automobile and buses. The original line closed in 1951, and the rails gradually disappeared beneath asphalt. But local enthusiasts never quite let the idea go. In the 1980s, volunteers launched an ambitious project to bring the tramway back. They tracked down the original Birney Car No. 25, which had been operating in Virginia after leaving Colorado decades earlier. After years of restoration work and fundraising, the Fort Collins Municipal Railway reopened a section of line in 1984.
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Today the heritage trolley runs along Mountain Avenue, one of the city’s most attractive streets, shaded by mature trees and lined with elegant historic houses. It is not a long journey, just over three miles return, but it feels like stepping briefly into another century.

Small Details That Bring the Past to Life

What makes a ride on the trolley memorable is the atmosphere rather than the distance. Inside, the wooden seats creak softly as the car accelerates. The trolley pole sparks faintly against the overhead wire. Conductors often share stories about the tram’s history as you roll gently past parks, university buildings and neighbourhood cafés. And then there are the quirks. Birney cars were sometimes nicknamed “safety cars”, but in practice their biggest safety feature may have been their modest speed. They typically trundle along at around 20 miles per hour, making them perfect for relaxed urban travel.
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Another small detail most passengers miss is the air whistle, which produces a distinctive mellow tone quite different from the sharp clang of traditional tram bells.

Fort Collins Birney streetcar photo by Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The Human Story Behind the Trolley

One of the most appealing aspects of the Fort Collins trolley is that it survives largely thanks to volunteers.
The Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society maintains the tram, the tracks and the overhead wiring. Many of the drivers and conductors are local railway enthusiasts who simply enjoy sharing this piece of history with visitors.
Their dedication keeps the trolley running during summer weekends and special events, turning what might have been a museum exhibit into a living, breathing part of the city.
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For visitors, that human connection is often what makes the ride memorable. It is not just a historical artefact. It is a community project that has kept a small but meaningful part of Colorado’s railway heritage alive.

A Different Perspective on Colorado Railways

For travellers interested in rail history, experiences like this add depth to the bigger, more famous journeys across Colorado.

Our Best of Colorado rail tour focuses on some of the state’s most spectacular lines, including the narrow-gauge railways that once carried silver, timber and supplies through the Rocky Mountains. One highlight is the legendary Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a steam-powered journey through deep canyons that still follows its original mining-era route.

Another classic is the Georgetown Loop Railroad, where trains climb high above Clear Creek on dramatic bridges and tight mountain curves, a remarkable feat of nineteenth-century railway engineering.

Colorado’s railway story also stretches beyond the narrow gauge lines. On the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, trains cross the Colorado–New Mexico border while climbing to over 10,000 feet at Cumbres Pass, one of the highest steam railways in North America. It remains one of the most authentic historic rail experiences in the United States.

Then there is the extraordinary Pikes Peak Cog Railway, the world’s highest cog railway and one of the most unusual mountain railways anywhere. Using a rack-and-pinion system to climb the slopes of Pikes Peak, it has been carrying passengers to the summit since 1891.

And for sheer scale, few railway experiences rival the arrival of Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014, the largest operational steam locomotive in the world. When this immense machine visits Colorado, it is a reminder of the power and ambition that defined the golden age of American railroads.

Seen alongside these giants of railway history, the Fort Collins trolley might seem modest. Yet it represents a different side of Colorado’s rail heritage, one rooted not in dramatic mountain passes but in everyday journeys through growing towns and communities.
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Together they tell the full story of railways in the American West, from quiet city streets to the highest passes of the Rocky Mountains.

A Gentle Pause Between Big Adventures

When travelling through Colorado by rail, much of the attention naturally falls on the dramatic scenery of the Rocky Mountains. Towering peaks, deep gorges and thrilling narrow-gauge lines tend to steal the spotlight.
But sometimes the quieter stories are just as interesting.

A short ride on Birney Car No. 25 is a reminder that railways were not only about conquering mountains. They were about connecting communities, helping cities grow and shaping the rhythm of daily life. And occasionally, more than a century later, they still do.

If you enjoy discovering the full story behind America’s railways, from dramatic mountain passes to charming heritage tramways, our small-group escorted rail tour in Colorado explores both the famous routes and the hidden gems that bring railway history to life.

View our Best of Colorado Itinerary here.