Vintage photo scan by Pete Charlton, provided by Andy Nold

In late 1927, the North Texas Traction Company took delivery of ten of what you see in the vintage photo above - new 1928 Birney Safety Cars. Over the last 80 years, one of these streetcars has led quite the life - and now, thanks to the efforts of North Texas Historic Transportation, it’s come home to the Panther City at long last.

First, a bit of background. The Birney Safety Car was developed in 1915, a result of the desire to streamline streetcar operations (and contrary to what you might read elsewhere, the cars were in fact called streetcars in Fort Worth, not trolleys). Prior to the Birney’s creation, riders didn’t trust using a streetcar that wasn’t manned by both a conductor and a motorman. Thanks to the Birney’s advanced safety systems, such as a door interlock system that prevented the streetcar from moving if the door was open or a passenger was stuck, riders felt comfortable using the system without a conductor. Small and nimble, the Birneys were efficient and durable streetcars. When North Texas Traction ordered their shiny new 1928 Birneys, they were getting the absolute cutting edge of streetcar technology. The ’28s featured all the latest advancements and were outfitted in the Art Deco style, with lovely trim and beautiful Deco light fixtures.

The ten cars ran on Fort Worth’s streetcar network until 1934, when the bulk of the system was shut down following antitrust actions against North Texas Traction’s parent company Stone & Webster of Boston. Four of the cars were sold to Cornwall, Ontario, Canada for their streetcar system, while the other six - including the one that’s the subject of this post - were sold to Dallas.

The car we’re talking about today was renumbered as Number 123 and went to work in support of the 1936 Centennial at Fair Park. Here’s a vintage photo of it serving on the Dallas system:

Vintage photo courtesy of the John J. Myers Collection

Number 123 lasted in Dallas service until 1953, when the system was phased out. Dallas passed a law forbidding the use of old streetcar bodies in the city limits, so the old car couldn’t hang around That Other City To The East. A buyer did come around for the car, though, and off it went…to Laguna Park in Bosque County, where, it is said, it became home to the construction office for the dam being built as part of the creation of Lake Whitney. This isn’t all that far-fetched, as the streetcar bodies were popular for other uses. “The streetcar bodies made excellent fishing cabins,” observes Andy Nold of North Texas Historic Transportation.

Sometime afterwards, in the early ’60s, a two-story addition was built around - and over - the streetcar. Virtually invisible, it sat there until this year, when that house was demolished. The contractor got in touch with Andy at NTHT through the Museum of American Railroads, and after a bit of fundraising the streetcar was recovered.

Photo provided by Andy Nold

The streetcar will rest at its temporary home in the Trinity Bluff neighborhood until it can be moved to restoration facilities. Currently, NTHT is working on restoring an older 1920-vintage Birney car, and restoration of this ‘28 model will commence after work is completed on the older car. According to Andy, the ‘28 is a prime find - “the best I’ve seen,” he says, of those known to still exist. A few items are gone, obviously - because the streetcar was only days away from being bulldozed, somebody made off with the original Art Deco light fixtures.

Photo provided by Andy Nold

What’s the future hold for this piece of Fort Worth’s transit history? “We are negotiating with a railroad right now to buy some right-of-way where we could establish a museum and some demonstration track,” Andy says. When I, being me, asked if NTHT would be interested in running the restored streetcars on the city’s in-planning modern streetcar system, perhaps on weekend or special event runs, Andy replied in the affirmative. “We are very supportive of the city’s efforts to build a streetcar circulator and hope that our restored cars could be used on the route for special occasions and charters.”

Photo provided by Andy Nold

Thanks to the dedicated work of people like Andy, North Texas Historic Transportation is slowly but surely preserving the roots of Fort Worth transit. About the only thing that would make me happier than seeing Fort Worth build the proposed modern streetcar system would be to see NTHT’s beautifully restored vintage hardware rolling down that new system on a sunny Saturday between runs of the modern cars. It’s similar to how things work in Portland - their system also runs on modern cars, but the vintage equipment is still brought out on occasion for the fun of it.

I’d like to wish NTHT the very best of luck as they proceed with their restorations. For more information on the group, make sure to visit their web site, www.northtexastransport.org. A big thanks to Andy Nold for his help during the preparation of this post.

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