:Birney Safety Streetcar No. 224
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Birney Safety Streetcar No. 224
| nrhp_type =
| image = Birney Safety Streetcar No. 224 - Fort Smith, Arkansas.jpg
| caption = Birney car 224 in operation on the
Fort Smith Trolley Museum line
| location = Fort Smith Trolley Museum, 100 S. Fourth St.,
Fort Smith, Arkansas,
United States
| coordinates = {{coord|35|23|8|N|94|25|48.7|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin =
| area =
| built = 1926
| architect = American Car Company
| architecture =
| refnum = 94000465[http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1994-05-03/html/94-10342.htm National Register of Historic Places; Notification of Pending Nominations]. Federal Register Volume 59, Number 84. May 3, 1994. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
}}
Birney Safety Streetcar No. 224 is a streetcar (or trolley) in Fort Smith, Arkansas, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.{{cite web|title=National Register of Historic Places: Search results for Fort Smith, Sebastian County|year=2012|publisher=Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (an agency of the state government's Department of Arkansas Heritage)|url=http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/historic-properties/national-register/results.aspx?county=Sebastian&city=Fort%20Smith&historic_name=&description=|access-date=June 12, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{sfnp|Young|1997|p=12-13}}{{cite web|title=National Register of Historic Places, Fort Smith listings|publisher=Fort Smith Historical Society|url=http://www.fortsmithhistory.org/archive/natregfs.html |access-date=June 11, 2012}} Built in 1926 by the American Car Company division of the J. G. Brill Company,{{sfnp|Young|1997|p=12-13}} it is a type of streetcar known as a Birney "Safety Car". It was listed on the National Register in 1994{{sfnp|Young|1997|p=12-13}} and is one of fewer than 10 streetcars listed.{{cite web|title=A Survey of Railway Cars and Locomotives on the National Register of Historic Places|date=November 2006|publisher=Railway Preservation Resources|url=http://www.railwaypreservation.com/NationalRegister.htm|access-date=June 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212225428/http://www.railwaypreservation.com/NationalRegister.htm#|archive-date=2012-02-12|url-status=dead}}
Original use
Introduced in 1915, the Birney Safety Car was a new standardized streetcar design that encompassed new safety features; it was also lighter in weight than earlier designs and more economical to operate.{{sfnp|Middleton|1967|p=122–127, 414, 418}} Its economies gave a "new lease on life" to many small-town streetcar systems.{{sfnp|Middleton|1967|p=137}}
No. 224 was built and purchased in 1926. The Fort Smith streetcar system used several Birney-type cars during the last several years of streetcar service, until the abandonment of the system by the Fort Smith Light & Traction Company on November 15, 1933. Car 224 was later used as a diner in Ashdown, Arkansas.{{cite book|last=Winters|first=Charles E.|title=The Streetcars of Fort Smith: Fort Smith Light & Traction Company|year=1979|publisher=Fort Smith Historical Society}}{{cite web|title=Birney Safety Streetcar No. 224, Fort Smith Trolley Museum, Fort Smith, Sebastian County, AR|work=Historic American Engineering Record|publisher=Library of Congress|url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ar0134/|access-date=June 13, 2012}}
Restoration and new use
File:Interior of Fort Smith Birney streetcar 224.jpg
Birney car 224 is owned by the Fort Smith Streetcar Restoration Association (FSSRA) and is part of the Fort Smith Trolley Museum (FSTM) collection.{{sfnp|Young|1997|p=12-13}} Car 224 was restored by FSSRA volunteers and began carrying passengers on the museum's heritage streetcar line on May 19, 1991.{{sfnp|Young|1997|p=12-13}}"World News". Modern Tramway, July 1991, p. 247. Ian Allan Publishing/Light Rail Transit Association (UK). It was added to the National Register exactly three years later, on May 19, 1994.{{sfnp|Young|1997|p=12-13}} The FSTM streetcar line, or trolley line{{spaced ndash}} the terms streetcar and trolley are used interchangeably in much of North America{{sfnp|Young|1997|p=98, 101}} connects Garrison Avenue, in downtown, with the gates of the Fort Smith National Cemetery.{{sfnp|Young|1997|p=12-13}}
Description
Like many streetcars, car 224 is a "double-ended"{{sfnp|Young|1997|p=98, 101}} car – capable of being operated from either end. It has a single door on each side. The backs of its wooden-bench seats are reversible, allowing the seats to face either end of the car. This type of seat was also known as a "walkover" seat,{{sfnp|Middleton|1967|p=122–127, 414, 418}} as the motorman could walk down the car's center aisle at the end of the line and flip the backs of the seats over. The 600 Volts DC that powers the car's electric motor is collected from the overhead trolley wire via a trolley pole on the roof; only one of the two poles is in use at a time, depending on the direction of travel. The car has a single truck and, overall, is approximately {{convert|27|ft|m}} long.
Fort Smith car 224 is one of three Birney streetcars listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the others both being from the former Fort Collins, Colorado system: Fort Collins car 21, which operates on a heritage streetcar line in its home town, and Fort Collins car 22.
See also
Footnotes
{{Reflist|2}}
References
- {{cite book |last=Middleton |first=William D. |title=The Time of the Trolley |year=1967 |publisher=Kalmbach Publishing Co. |oclc=258974}}
- {{cite book |last=Young |first=Andrew D. |title=Veteran & Vintage Transit |year=1997 |publisher=Archway Publishing |location=St. Louis, MO |isbn=978-0-9647-2792-2 }}
External links
{{Commons category|Fort Smith Birney streetcar 224}}
- [http://www.fstm.org Fort Smith Trolley Museum] website
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120303074407/http://www.fstm.org/224.html Birney Safety Car #224] at FSTM website
- {{HAER |survey=AR-62 |id=ar0134 |title=Birney Safety Streetcar No. 224, Fort Smith Trolley Museum, Fort Smith, Sebastian County, AR |dwgs=5}}
- [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/AR/Sebastian/state.html www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com] list for Sebastian County, AR, including streetcar 224
Category:Railway vehicles on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
Category:Streetcars in Arkansas
Category:Transportation in Sebastian County, Arkansas
Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Arkansas
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Sebastian County, Arkansas
Category:1926 establishments in Arkansas