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67-612: The MATA Trolley is a heritage streetcar transit system in Memphis, Tennessee . It began operating on April 29, 1993. Service was suspended in June 2014, following fires on two cars. After nearly four years and repeated postponements, the reopening of the Main Street Line took place on April 30, 2018, while the system's two other lines remained suspended (still as of 2024), but with reopening of both planned. However, all service

134-471: A cost of $ 40 million. After thorough inspection of the fleet, MATA decided to overhaul several cars rather than purchase new ones, and to eventually reinstate service using only overhauled cars. In December 2014, MATA announced that it was not yet able to give an estimated date for the resumption of service. In March 2015, it was announced that limited trolley service might be possible in May or June, but there

201-463: A few vintage trams, buses and trolleybuses. Trams are in service on certain summer weekends. Otherwise, they are operated less regularly, mostly on certain occasions. For about a one-month period near Christmas, each city operates light trams (trams that are decorated with LED strips and/or Christmas decoration). These trams operate on various lines around the cities in the late afternoons, evenings, and can be used by normal (seasonal) tickets usually. At

268-820: A heritage tramway because of its continued use of vintage or, since 2015, faux-vintage tramcars. A heritage tramway was opened in Iquique in 2004. A heritage tramway was opened in Lima in 1997. The first heritage tramway in Latin America opened in Montevideo in 1967, using a restored vintage tram on a reopened section of former tram line. It closed in 1974. Heritage trams operate in Changchun , Jilin and Dalian , Liaoning . The Hong Kong Tramways and Peak Tram on Hong Kong Island are considered part of

335-888: A part on the once SNCB line 109 after regauging to 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) metre gauge . In Sofia there are operating heritage trams. In Prague the Prague Integrated Transport operates Historical Tram Line No. 41 at weekends using historical tram vehicles and a week-long operating Nostalgic Tram Line No. 23 using old PCC based ČKD Tatra T3 tram vehicles. Historical trams are also seasonally operated in Brno . In Tallinn there are renovated retrotrams in public use since 2017. In Helsinki , Oy Stadin Ratikat Ab offers charter tramrides with vintage cars and in summer months operates an in-street heritage tram line on

402-525: A planned refurbishment, they are projected to enter service by late 2022. In 2021, MATA acquired one secondhand Siemens-Duewag U2 LRV from San Diego Trolley to be used for testing on the Madison Avenue Line . The vehicle began testing on the line in March 2022. The MATA Trolley network consists of three lines. There are stations at 24 locations (inbound and outbound stations are counted as

469-884: A proposal for a heritage tram in colonial San Telmo is under discussion. Buenos Aires also hosts the La Brugeoise cars , the Buenos Aires Metro ( Subte ) Line A rolling stock , since its inauguration in 1913. They were built by Belgian railway rolling stock manufacturer La Brugeoise, et Nicaise, et Delcuve between 1911 and 1919 for the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's ( Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina , CTAA in Spanish) first metro line. They were originally designed to run both as metro and tramway cars, but they were refurbished in 1927 for underground use only. They are

536-683: A single location), and 35 of the stations are sheltered and ADA-accessible . On June 1, 2011, two trolleys – a Melbourne W2-class and Porto number 194 – traveling on Main Street collided due to a power failure. Two of the Melbourne cars caught fire, in December 2013 and April 2014. Both incidents occurred along the Madison Avenue line. In May 2014, the line was shut down in order to conduct an investigation, since

603-452: A system in Lowell, Massachusetts . In San Francisco , parts of the cable car and Muni streetcar system (specifically the above-mentioned F Market & Wharves line) are heritage lines, although they are also functioning parts of the city's transit system. The cable cars are a National Historic Landmark and are rare examples of vehicles with this distinction. Located east of San Francisco

670-536: A three-month suspension of service which started on January 5, 2003. An eleventh reconditioned Melbourne car, W5-class 799, was purchased in 2006 by MATA with a view toward eventual restarting of trolley service. In late 2020, MATA acquired three more Gomaco-built replica Birney streetcars, secondhand from the Charlotte Area Transit System , which had used them from 2004 to 2019 on its Charlotte Trolley System and CityLynx Gold Line . After

737-521: Is also one vintage tram line - Tram Line 1956 - operating yearly in late October as a memorial for the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 , it can be used with normal (seasonal) tickets. In Debrecen there are also a few vintage trams. They are operated less regularly, mostly on certain occasions. In Miskolc there are also a few vintage trams and buses. They are operated less regularly, mostly on certain occasions. In Szeged there are also

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804-483: Is being extended, and additional trams have been added. Belém : A heritage tramway was opened in the city of Belém in 2005. Campinas : A heritage tramway has been in operation at Campinas's Parque Portugal since 1972. Rio de Janeiro : The Santa Teresa Tramway , which has operated in the Santa Teresa district of Rio de Janeiro since the 19th century, is not primarily a tourist line but can be considered

871-620: Is one of several museums in the U.S. that restore and operate vintage streetcars and interurbans , the Western Railway Museum . The Fort Collins Municipal Railway operates Birney Safety Cars on a restored track that runs from City Park to Old Town in Fort Collins , Colorado. In Buenos Aires , a heritage tram line was inaugurated In 1980 in the Caballito neighbourhood on existing vintage street tracks. Presently

938-453: Is operating in Styria between the railway station of Mariazell and the nearby Erlaufsee, mainly with Ex-Vienna streetcars. This line was recently electrified on longer sections and also extended towards the city center. In Innsbruck the city's trams are collected and renovated – together with other Tyrolean railway vehicles – by the association Tiroler MuseumsBahnen which has its museum in

1005-677: The Blue or Orange Lines) or a modern light rail line (like the Green Line ). It is also unique in that it used almost exclusively by commuters and is not particularly popular with tourists (and thus may not really be a true heritage system, despite the historic rolling stock). Dallas has the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority . Denver has the Platte Valley Trolley , a heritage line recalling

1072-990: The Christchurch tramway . Invercargill No.16 was recently rediscovered and recovered to the Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill and is being restored for static display. In the United States, the Gomaco Trolley Company has built at least 18 replica Birney cars, in the style of the less-common double-truck Birney car design, since 1999. Gomaco fitted these with trucks from ex- Milan , Italy Peter Witt streetcars . These have been supplied to Tampa, Florida ; Charlotte, North Carolina ; Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee . Gomaco also restored an original single-truck Birney car body in 2002–3 for

1139-909: The Helsinki tram network. In France, the Deûle Valley tramway near Lille which runs along a 3 km (1.9 mi) track from Marquette-lez-Lille to Wambrechies features several tram vehicles dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. Woltersdorf Tramway located in Woltersdorf, Brandenburg , near Berlin, Germany. Open in 1913 tramway, It is one of the smallest tram operators in Germany, Other heritage Trams in Naumburg also open in 1907 located in Naumburg . Stuttgart classic tram Maschinenfabrik Esslingen GT4 . In Hungary all of

1206-472: The Main Street Line , the Riverfront Loop and the Madison Avenue Line ; however, service on the last two lines remains indefinitely suspended in May 2024. In the 2011–12 fiscal year, 1.34 million trips were made on the system, a 23.1% year-on-year growth – the highest of any light rail system in the contiguous United States. Originally proposed as a 4.9-mile (7.9 km) line along

1273-632: The Melbourne Electric Supply Company (Geelong) purchased two. The two Birneys in Geelong were unusual, having been built with longitudinal seating. These and the four Adelaide cars were transferred to Bendigo in 1947, where four of them remained in revenue service until 1972. One each of the Geelong and Adelaide cars is operational on the Bendigo Tramways heritage line; the three other Adelaide cars are held by

1340-669: The Mississippi River , the Memphis City Council voted 9-4 in January 1990 to build the 2.5-mile (4 km), $ 33 million Main Street route. After multiple delays, construction of the line commenced in February 1991 for completion by December 1992. However, due to the longer-than-anticipated restoration of the vintage streetcars, the opening of the line was delayed until spring 1993. After further delay, testing of

1407-798: The Tramway Museum, St Kilda , South Australia, with one in regular service. A number of Birney cars remain in use today in North America at trolley museums and heritage streetcar operations. Single examples of original Birney cars are in service on heritage streetcar lines in Tampa, Florida ; Fort Collins, Colorado ; San Jose, California , and Fort Smith, Arkansas , as well as on the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority line in Dallas , Texas . Three of these cars, Fort Collins car 21 , Fort Collins car 22 , and Fort Smith car 224 , are listed on

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1474-716: The city of Halifax , Nova Scotia , Canada, bought up Birneys secondhand from other systems (including 22 acquired from the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) and five from Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway ) across North America to build an "all-Birney fleet" and keep its streetcar system going in the difficult years of the Great Depression and World War II , finally retiring its last car in 1949. The Toronto Civic Railways operated 25 Birney cars in Toronto from 1920 to 1921 when

1541-493: The heritage of Hong Kong. The Nagasaki Electric Tramway and Hiroshima Electric Railway both regularly operate vintage trams alongside modern rolling stock. Additionally, the Hakodate City Tram operates vintage trams for use on tourist runs during the summer. Birney 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

1608-552: The slogan "A Car in Sight at all Times". This latter attraction was one of the street railway industry's first attempts to deal directly with automobile competition. The Birney Car also introduced the use of pneumatically balanced and interlocked doors. If a door was stuck open, or a passenger or other object blocked the door, the motors could not be started. The controls on the Birney Car also included an early application of

1675-558: The " deadman control ". This device removed power from the car's motors and applied the air brakes if the controller handle was released for any reason, causing the car to come to an abrupt stop. A longer, double- truck version of the Birney car was developed in the 1920s, incorporating its most successful features. The first of these were ordered in 1918 by the Cape Breton Electric Company , which later cancelled

1742-462: The "Birney" car. The vehicle was a return to single-truck (single- bogie ) streetcars. Birneys were small and light, about a third the weight of conventional cars of the period; were of rugged, standardized construction; mass-produced and inexpensively built. Twin motors gave them nimble acceleration. Birney cars averaged about 28 feet (8.5 m) in length and typically had seating for about 32 passengers. The largest producer of Birney Safety Cars

1809-702: The Adelaide Tramway Museum, St Kilda , and one Melbourne X class housed at the Hawthorn tram depot in Melbourne . Thus, Australia has a high proportion of the world's surviving, operable Birney cars. In New Zealand, New Plymouth Birney No. 8 is preserved by Wanganui Tramways , and Invercargill Birney car No. 15, restored by the Tramway Historical Society at Ferrymead Heritage Park , Christchurch , operates on

1876-517: The Asian side. The former opened in 1990 between Tünel (funicular station) and Taksim metro station , and the latter in 2003 in the suburb of Kadıköy . A heritage tram line opened in 2003 in the city of Antalya serving the Antalya Museum , the historic city centre, Hadrian's Gate , and ending at the eastern end of Işıklar Road. Another one opened in 2011 in the city of Bursa . In

1943-591: The TTC took over the TCR and continued operating the cars until 1940 (remaining 14 cars were sold to Halifax excluding 3 sold to Cornwall in 1926 and 8 to Halifax in 1927). Although the vast majority of the cars built were sold to streetcar operators in North America (including in Mexico and Cuba), a small number went to much more distant places, such as Australia and New Zealand. In the latter, Birney cars were imported for use by

2010-502: The Texas Interurban operated three unusual Birney-based double-truck express cars without passenger seats or windows– the only cars of this type ever built. Thousands of the cars were purchased from their inception to a few years after the end of the war. Production peaked in 1920, with 1,699 cars built in that year alone, but then declined rapidly and ended in 1930. Birney cars began to fall from favor in part because of

2077-457: The Tibidabo tramway, has been in operation since 1904 but still uses trams built in 1904–15, and thus has become a heritage line. Similarly, the tramway connecting Sóller with Puerto de Sóller , on the island of Mallorca , is operated with vintage trams and has been open since 1913. Therefore, it is a heritage line. In Malmö , a technical museum operates an in-street heritage tram line in

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2144-586: The U.S. National Register of Historic Places . In Canada, the Nelson Electric Tramway (in Nelson, B.C. ) has one fully restored Birney car. Additionally, replica Birney cars built by Gomaco are in service in at least four U.S. cities (see below). In Australia, seven of the eight Birney cars imported there have survived in operating condition: five are at Bendigo Tramways including the two ex-Geelong cars and three from Adelaide, one G type at

2211-796: The United Kingdom the majority of tram lines were lifted before the heritage movement began to flourish, and tracks and trams scrapped. Although trams are returning to British cities, they are modern transportation systems (also known as light rail ), not heritage operations. There are, however, three notable heritage tram operations in the UK and Crown dependencies. (There is also a modern " Heritage Tramway " [1] in Birkenhead , Merseyside .) The San Francisco Municipal Railway , or Muni, runs exclusively historic trolleys on its heavily used F Market & Wharves line. The line serves Market Street and

2278-735: The United States, with trolley being preferred in the eastern US and streetcar in Canada and the western US. In parts of the United States, internally powered buses made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with trolley buses , the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) refers to them as " trolley-replica buses ". Museums, heritage tram line operators, and amateur enthusiasts can preserve original vintage vehicles or create replicas of historic vehicles to re-create or preserve streetcar technology of

2345-583: The car arrived in Memphis in April 2021. Trolley operation on all three lines was suspended from 2014 to 2018 following fires in two trolley cars, and in 2018 service resumed on the Main Street Line only. However, on August 18, 2024, all service was suspended again, MATA citing brake problems on the cars. A reopening of the system will not occur in the near future, as all trolley operators were laid off

2412-515: The city – and other in Antwerp . The 70-kilometre long (43 mi) Kusttram (the coastal line between Knokke and De Panne via Ostend ) features also some vehicles of the once extensive interurban network stored in the depot of De Panne and Knokke operated by TTO. ASVi run a museum in Thuin and an 8 km (5 mi) line with electric and diesel cars on a part of the once SNCV line 92 and on

2479-499: The coaches had already been preserved for touristic purposes, and now the rest of the fleet is under careful restoration and is intended to render service on weekends and holidays. Santos : After briefly operating a short heritage line along Embaré Beach in the mid-1980s, the city of Santos in 2000 opened a new heritage tramway in the historic Valongo district, using a car built in 1911 with a peculiar rail gauge of 1,350 mm ( 4 ft  5 + 5 ⁄ 32  in ). The line

2546-549: The features that had originally made them attractive. Their light weight could be a problem in snow that a heavier car could easily plow through. Their short length made their ride quality comparatively poor, and on poorly maintained track they derailed easily. The public began to deride them as flimsy. Their limited passenger capacity rendered them unsuitable for busy routes and rush hour service, causing them to be relegated to minor lines or to be sold mostly to small-town streetcar systems. The streetcar companies also found that

2613-477: The first of the restored cars began on March 10, 1993, and the system opened to the public on April 29, 1993. On October 1, 1997, the Riverfront line opened. The system's third line, running east from Main Street along Madison Avenue for about 2 miles (3.2 km), opened on March 15, 2004. It was completed at a cost of about $ 56 million, which was approximately 25 percent below the original budget forecast for

2680-427: The fleet had six cars (all ex-Porto single-truckers) by May 1993. Between the mid-1990s and 2003, the fleet expanded considerably in both number and capacity with the arrival of ten reconditioned Melbourne , Australia W2-class cars, all but one (Car 417) supplied by Gomaco Trolley Company . Other additions were single-truck Car 1979 that was built new by Gomaco in 1993, as a demonstrator; double-truck Car 1794 that

2747-501: The former Vasileostrovsky tram depot , which closed in the 1990s after the city's extensive tram network was cut down due to increasing automobile traffic, was converted into the Museum of Electrical Transport . Apart from excursions to itself, the museum organizes museum fleet rides along downtown tracks (including some now otherwise unused for regular tram service) on a number of public festivals and some summer weekends. A heritage tram of

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2814-573: The former's fleet being made up entirely of Birney cars – 61 of them – of both single- and double-truck configuration. In 1930, the Curitiba , Brazil, tramway system bought 20 second-hand Birney cars from Boston and these cars were converted to metre gauge. In Australia the Municipal Tramways Trust , Adelaide purchased four as its Type G tram; the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board purchased two as its X class ; and

2881-778: The four tram systems ( Budapest , Debrecen , Miskolc , Szeged ) have operating heritage trams. In Budapest heritage trams first operated in 1987. Its fleet contains quite a few vehicles (trams, buses, trolleybuses, even metrocars) from the late 19th century until recent years and there are many more waiting to be repaired. Heritage services are mainly operated from April/May to September/October on weekends. There are both heritage and retro lines. The retro lines can be used with normal (seasonal) tickets, however, on heritage lines other, heritage (seasonal) tickets are needed. In 2019 there are two heritage tram lines. one retro tram line, one heritage bus line and one retro bus line operated regularly. Occasionally there are other lines in operation. There

2948-539: The nearby metropolis of Milan , the continued, extensive use of the "Series 1500 tram" is an example of a heritage tramway which blends into everyday urban life to the extent that it is not regarded as one. In Bergen the Bergens Elektriske Sporvei has operated a short heritage tramway since 1993. In Oslo the Tramway Museum operates veteran trams on the tram network of Oslo on the first Sunday of every month. Heritage trams provide all of

3015-707: The old station of the Stubaitalbahn . In Amsterdam the Electrisch Museumtramlijn operates historic trams over a 7 km (4.3 mi) length of former railway line. The tram networks of The Hague and Rotterdam have also their tram museums. The association Tramweg Stichting maintains and operates in every three cities its own vehicles, partly as collection of these museums. In Belgium there are three tram museums, one in Brussels – organizing several weekend rides to Tervueren and around

3082-437: The oldest metro rolling stock in commercial service in the world as well as a tourist attraction and part of Buenos Aires cultural heritage. The A line also contains a vintage station, Perú . They have been in continuous use for a whole century from 1913 to January 2013 when they were replaced by new coaches, with an average of about 300,000 daily passengers, up from the 170,000 who traveled on them on their first day. Some of

3149-770: The one operating line, Main Street) was suspended again indefinitely at the request of the Tennessee Department of Transportation after a braking issue arose, for the second time in nine months, while an investigation into the cause proceeded. As there was no estimate for when service might be able to resume, all trolley operators were laid off. Other transit in the United States: Heritage streetcar The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys in North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in

3216-468: The open-sided streetcars of the early 20th century. The VTA in San Jose, California , also maintains a heritage trolley fleet for occasional use on the downtown portion of a new light rail system opened in 1988. Other cities with heritage streetcar lines include Galveston, Texas ; Kenosha, Wisconsin ; and San Pedro, California (home of the port of Los Angeles ). The National Park Service operates

3283-459: The order. The two cars – the only double-truck center-entrance Birney cars to be built – were eventually delivered to the Waterbury and Milldale Tramway in 1921. Double-truck Birney cars were sold to a number of systems, including that of Tampa, Florida , and to the Texas Interurban Railway , which used them exclusively. In addition to 11 double-truck passenger cars, which featured deluxe interior appointments and toilets for interurban service,

3350-405: The past. Heritage vehicles that are kept fully functional can be used on heritage tramlines or for charter traffic. The Remise Museum in Vienna, opened in 2014, covers the history of public transport in the city of Vienna and offers an extensive tram collection to visitors. The Styrian municipality centre Graz has a tram museum since 1971 located in the depot of Mariatrost. Another heritage tram

3417-428: The project. The Main Street Line was extended to Memphis Central Station in February 2021. On November 3, 2021, MATA announced a plan to test a modern streetcar from San Diego on the Madison Avenue Line, on which rail service has been suspended since 2014. The vehicle is light rail car 1035 from the San Diego Trolley light rail system. MATA acquired the 1988-built Siemens–Duewag U2 from San Diego in fall 2020, and

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3484-451: The provincial centres of New Plymouth in the North Island and Invercargill in the South Island, reputedly the world's most southerly tramway system. Cities in South America whose streetcar companies purchased Birney cars included Concordia and Paraná , in Argentina, while Guayaquil in Ecuador obtained Birneys secondhand from Trenton, New Jersey . The Colombian cities of Medellín and Pereira both were served by Birney streetcars,

3551-544: The safety features of the Birney, such as the use of interlocked doors to prevent the car from starting if a door was open or a passenger was stuck, could be incorporated in larger cars and that the public was not as disturbed by the absence of the conductor as the companies had feared. Its initial rise and fall notwithstanding, the Birney car was useful and durable, and many were shipped to streetcar systems in other countries, especially ones located in smaller cities and towns, where they served for additional decades. For example,

3618-568: The same day. The trolleys used are almost all restored, vintage streetcars. The original three cars in operation on opening day were all formerly used in Porto, Portugal , and are Car 187, circa 1927; Car 194, circa 1935; and Car 204, circa 1940. These cars are each 30 feet 6 inches (9.3 m) long, 7 feet 10 inches (2.39 m) wide and weigh 25,820 pounds (11,710 kg) without passengers. The cars were restored by Kerns-Wilcheck Associates of Memphis. Three additional ex-Porto cars (156, 164 and 180) joined them within weeks, and

3685-429: The same time each of these cities, except Miskolc, light trolleybuses are operated in the same way as trams. Turin operates the historical route 7, a double way circular route around the town centre. Turin is the first town in Italy with tramway lines powered by historical streetcars. The inauguration of the heritage tramway line was during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of national unity, in March 2011. In

3752-495: The service on some of the Lisbon tramway network in Portugal , and in Porto a long-closed section of tramway in the historic Batalha section of the town center was reopened in 2007 for use by historic trams. There are now three such heritage routes in Porto, as well as a tram museum . In Sintra , there is a seasonally operated heritage tramway. STB in Bucharest maintains an extensive fleet of heritage trams on its tram system . In Saint Petersburg on Vasilyevsky Island

3819-423: The speeds along it are higher. On June 10, the suspension was expanded to include all MATA trolley lines after it was determined that much of the fleet would need to be renovated. At that time, the suspension was expected to last at least six months until a feasible solution could be found. Options included restoring the existing fleet at a cost of $ 6 million, or replacing them with new heritage streetcars at

3886-414: The summer months. In Stockholm , a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) section of former route 7 was reopened in 1991 as a heritage tramway , using vintage cars. There is another tram museum in Malmköping. Museispårvägen Malmköping runs along a short stretch of the former m|s|j between Malmköping and Hosjö. Two separate heritage tramways operate in Istanbul ; T2 on the European side of the Bosporus and T3 on

3953-404: The tourist areas along the Embarcadero, including Fisherman's Wharf . Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority runs exclusively PCC streetcars on its Mattapan Line , part of that authority's Red Line . The historic rolling stock is retained because doing so cost less than would a full rebuild of the line to accommodate either a heavy rail line (like the rest of the Red Line or

4020-479: The type that used to run from the inner city nearly to the nearby front line during the World War II siege of the city is installed as a war and tram memorial, not far from Avtovo metro station. A modern replica of a late-19th-century horsecar stands in front of Vasileostrovskaya metro station. In Spain, a new heritage tramway was opened in A Coruña (La Coruña) in 1997. However, since 2011 it has been out of order. Tramvia Blau in Barcelona , also known as

4087-468: Was originally an open-sided car from Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , but was heavily rebuilt and enclosed before entering service in Memphis, and, in early 2004, a replica Birney Safety Car – again, manufactured by Gomaco, similar to those used on the TECO Line Streetcar in Tampa, Florida, and the Metro Streetcar in Little Rock, Arkansas. The fleet and overhead wires were converted from trolley pole to pantograph current collection in early 2003, during

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4154-450: Was predicting that the Riverfront Loop would reopen when three used Birney-replica cars acquired from Memphis in late 2020 were ready to enter service, which at the time was forecast for circa late 2022. Service on the Madison Avenue Line is planned to be restored sometime after 2022 after the testing of the Siemens-Duewag U2 LRV on the line is completed and more vehicles are purchased. On August 18, 2024, MATA announced that all service (on

4221-475: 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. Several different manufacturers built Birney cars. The design was "the first mass-produced standard streetcar (albeit with minor variations)" in North America. The Birney car

4288-411: Was still no timetable for full restoration of service. In October 2016, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said trolleys would not be back in service before 2017. Service on the Main Street Line restarted April 30, 2018. At that time, the other two lines were forecast to reopen within two years, but as of December 2022 they both remained indefinitely suspended (routes served by buses). In September 2021, MATA

4355-457: Was suspended again in August 2024 in response to a recommendation by the state department of transportation after an issue arose with braking of the trolley cars. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 365,400. The last line of Memphis’ original streetcar network closed on June 15, 1947. Since opening the system has been extended twice and by 2004 consisted of three lines, operated by the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). These lines are

4422-471: Was the American Car Company , a subsidiary of the J. G. Brill Company , but several other companies also manufactured Birneys (e.g. Ottawa Car Company ). The Birney was designed to operate with only a motorman , saving the cost of the conductor . The advent of World War I made single-person operation additionally attractive as it addressed the wartime labor shortage. When labor was available, Birneys could be operated at more frequent intervals, prompting

4489-442: Was the joint 1915 invention of Charles Birney and Joseph Bosenbury (who was issued the patents in 1917 and 1919, and assigned half to Birney; see Brill page 140). Birney was an engineer with the firm of Stone & Webster , an operator of a number of trolley systems in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. The design was named the "Safety Car", and became known as the "Birney Safety Car" and ultimately simply as

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