65-748: The TECO Line Streetcar is a heritage streetcar transit line in Tampa , Florida , run by the Hillsborough Area Regional Transportation Authority (HART), owned by the city of Tampa, and managed by Tampa Historic Streetcar, Inc. It connects Downtown and Channelside to the historic Ybor City district. There is also an "In-Town" trolley-replica bus system that connects Downtown, Channelside, and Harbour Island . The line opened on October 19, 2002, at 2.4 mi (3.86 km) long, and expanded to 2.7 mi (4.35 km) in 2010, with 11 stations. The system
130-463: 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
195-820: 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
260-888: 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
325-884: 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
390-716: 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 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
455-512: A streetcar endowment stemming from settlement money received in 2006 by the city for the demolition of the Harbour Island People Mover . In its first year of operation, the streetcar carried 420,000 riders, 20% more than projected. In 2005, 434,498 passengers used the streetcar. In 2011, streetcar ridership from October 2011 through May decreased by 8.3 percent to 265,148 with a total for the year of 358,737 riders. In 2015,
520-452: 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
585-521: 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
650-483: 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
715-620: 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
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#1732780731762780-478: Is single-track with several passing sidings, which mostly follows a reserved right-of-way at a cost of 13.7 million per mile. Ten replica historic streetcars and one restored historic streetcar are used on the line. The replica cars themselves cost $ 745,000 each. A $ 2.7 million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation awarded in 2018 allowed HART to eliminate fares and increase frequency on
845-677: 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
910-990: 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
975-559: The Gomaco Trolley Company in Ida Grove, Iowa. In 2020, the number of operating streetcars was reduced to ten as car #429 was in an accident that damaged it beyond repair. The replica vehicles resemble the originals that were operating in the city from the 1920s to 1946. The Birney #163, is the fully restored unit and is smaller than the replica models. This streetcar ran on the Tampa & Ybor City Street Railway between 1923 and 1946. It
1040-909: 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
1105-632: 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
1170-747: 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
1235-716: 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
1300-493: 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
1365-552: 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
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#17327807317621430-558: 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
1495-462: 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
1560-702: 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
1625-517: 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
1690-665: The Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company in 1899. After acquiring the Tampa and Sulphur Springs Traction Company in 1913, Tampa Electric had almost 50 miles (80 km) of track, increasing to 53 miles (85 km) by 1926. That year the Tampa Electric system carried almost 24 million passengers. The streetcar system in Tampa was extensive, maps shown here & here , with at least 13 different connected lines. Each line ran anywhere from every 10 to 30 minutes, from around 5 am till midnight. It
1755-591: 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
1820-733: The Tampa Street Railway Company merged with the Florida Electric Company to form the Tampa Street Railway and Power Company, and converted to electrically powered streetcars in 1893. Also in 1892, a rival company, the Tampa Suburban Company, was organized to compete with the Tampa Street Railway Company, but was blocked from operating by an injunction. A new company, The Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company
1885-502: 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
1950-457: 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
2015-586: 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
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2080-796: 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
2145-566: The car changes direction. The cars are also equipped with on-board ticket dispensers; however, they do not provide change. The agency that operates the streetcar is a non-profit. On October 22, 2014, the Tampa Bay Times published an editorial on the leverage a subsidy the Tampa Port Authority gives to the streetcar system. However it also wrote that the system "is not dependent" on the subsidy. They also reported that
2210-902: 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 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
2275-530: The city to build a transit line primarily along Cypress Street - connecting Ybor City, Channelside, Downtown, Midtown, Westshore, and the airport. The new line may be called the CrossTampa Transit Connector with 16 stations and two major multipurpose hubs. The Florida Department of Revenue awarded $ 67 million for the streetcar expansion on December 8, 2020. The city hoped the updated and extended streetcar service would be up and running by
2340-515: 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
2405-499: 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
2470-479: The end of 2026. In February 2021 the Florida Supreme Court declared a one-percent county-wide sales tax unconstitutional in a 4-1 vote. The "All for Transportation" sales tax was approved by Hillsborough County voters in 2018 and $ 400 million had already been collected but was left unspent. The funds from this tax were the primary local funding source for the extension project, and thus the future of
2535-549: 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
2600-501: 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
2665-573: 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
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2730-778: 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
2795-501: The growing global heritage railway movement and form a part of the living history of rail transport. The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys in North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in 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
2860-493: 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 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
2925-589: The line, causing a significant increase in ridership. Despite a $ 67 million state grant, a proposed expansion to 4.0 miles (6.4 km) and 6 more stations has faced funding issues. A county tax to help pay for the development was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Florida in 2021 after being passed locally. The first streetcars in Tampa were operated by the Tampa Street Railway Company between downtown Tampa and Ybor City. The line started operation in 1885, using wood-burning steam engines. In 1892
2990-539: 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
3055-437: 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
3120-468: 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
3185-591: 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,
3250-656: The project has been placed under review. A new measure to replace the 2018 tax was proposed in 2022. The referendum for a one percent sales tax was rejected by 2022 voters with results of 48.60% For vs. 51.40% Against. Other transit in the United States: Heritage streetcar Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a part of the efforts to preserve rail transit heritage. In addition to preserving street-running rail vehicles, heritage streetcar operations can include upkeep of historic rail infrastructure. Working heritage streetcars are closely related to
3315-748: 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,
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#17327807317623380-544: 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,
3445-429: 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
3510-495: 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
3575-682: The streetcar served 285,900 passengers. A new 0.333 mi (0.54 km) extension, costing $ 5.5 million, opened for revenue service on December 19, 2010. The extension runs north along Franklin Street to Whiting Street and the Fort Brooke parking garage, connecting the Convention Center as well as the rest of the TECO Line to the downtown core. From north to south, the stations are The system originally had had eleven operating streetcars: nine modern replica double-truck Birney cars, one replica open-bench "Breezer" (similar to J.G. Brill cars built for Metropolitan Street Railway of New York), and one restored original Birney car. The replicas were built by
3640-414: 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
3705-508: The system has to pay almost half a million dollars in insurance to cover the risk of streetcars crossing an active freight rail line. The single-ride adult fare was $ 2.50 prior to October 2018. Starting that month, fares were dropped for a three year period due to a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation. As a result, ridership on the 2.7 mile line has skyrocketed, with almost three times as many riders in 2019 as in 2018. Plenary Americas US Holdings Inc has proposed partnering with
3770-404: 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
3835-479: 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
3900-516: Was formed, and soon out-competed the Tampa Railway Company by lowering its fares. The Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company bought out the Tampa Street Railway Company in 1894. The company also acquired control of the Tampa and Palmetto Beach Rail Company, becoming the sole streetcar operator in Tampa. The Tampa Electric Company acquired control of the Consumers Electric Light and Street Railway Company in 1899. The Tampa Electric Company acquired 21 miles (34 km) of streetcar track with
3965-502: Was found in 1991 in Sulphur Springs , a neighborhood in Tampa, where it had been used as an apartment and later a storage shed. Volunteers worked more than 10,000 hours to restore the car to its former condition. It is Florida's only operational historic streetcar. The replica Birney cars have a welded steel body with cosmetic rivets added to make them look older. The cars are wheelchair-accessible, are air-conditioned and offer free WiFi. The seats are made of wood and are reversible for when
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#17327807317624030-415: Was shut down after World War Two, with the city tearing up most of the already installed tracks. The last cars were removed from service some time between 1946 and 1949. Streetcars returned to Tampa in 2002, when the initial 2.4 mi (3.86 km) long heritage line was opened. Its operating costs are financed through a special tax assessment (.33 per thousand) on businesses in the streetcar district and
4095-475: 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
4160-471: 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
4225-442: 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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