Fort Collins Municipal Railway

[1] Since 1984, a section of one of the former routes has been in operation as a seasonal heritage streetcar service, under the same name, running primarily on Spring and Summer weekends.

The heritage service is operated by volunteers from the Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society (FCMRS).

The first local street railway service had actually begun on August 8, 1907, temporarily using a steam locomotive borrowed from the Colorado and Southern Railway, hauling four elderly passenger coaches, on a newly constructed single-track line along Mountain Avenue.

[1] True electric trolley/streetcar service was inaugurated with the formal dedication of the new street railway system, on December 29 of the same year.

[1] The system struggled financially, its light ridership making it no longer economically viable as a private venture.

The D&I itself soon went into receivership, and abruptly ceased operation of its Fort Collins trolley system, on the night of July 10, 1918.

This was approved by the city council and, in January 1919, in a vote by the citizens, and the Fort Collins Municipal Railway (FCMR) was formed.

Rolling stock was not part of the deal, so four new Birney-type streetcars were purchased from the American Car Company, numbered 20–23, arriving on May 24, 1919.

[3] By the end of service in 1951, the Fort Collins Municipal Railway was the last streetcar system in the U.S. to use any Birney cars.

In 1977, the Fort Collins Junior Women's Club proposed giving 1919-built streetcar 21 a cosmetic restoration, as the car suffered from years of exposure.

[1] With this goal, the non-profit Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society (FCMRS) was formed on March 31, 1980.