This group is dedicated to the Birney Safety Car, the streetcar which was developed in the late 1910s as an answer to rising labor and operational costs in the street railway industry.

Birneys ran in small towns and large cities alike throughout the United States, Canada and even Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. They could be found in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago, Marion IN, St. Petersburg FL, Birmingham, Fort Collins, Fresno, Los Angeles and other cities and towns. They came mostly in bouncy single-truck versions, but sturdy double-truck Birneys ran in many communitites.

Today, one can still see Birneys in operation at museums and even in revenue service in some locales.

In addition to Birneys, discussion of other 4-wheel streetcars is permitted and encouraged.

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HOME PAGE PICTURE (09-01) APPLETON, WI: A Wisconsin Michigan Power Co. Birney pulls out of the Appleton carbarn for the last time on April 16, 1930. Appleton had one of the very first functional electric streetcar railway in the United States, opening in 1886, and was the first street railway powered by hydro-electric power. From a YouTube video