This article describes the mass transit vehicle. For other usages, see Birney (disambiguation).

A Birney or Birney Safety Car is a small light streetcar intended to be an economical means of providing frequent service at a lower labor cost than conventional streetcars.

Invention

The Birney car was the 1916 invention of Charles O. Birney, an engineer with the firm of Stone & Webster, an operator of a number of trolley systems in the United States of America in the early part of the 20th century.

The vehicle was a return to single_truck (single_bogie) streetcars. They were small and light, about a third the weight of conventional cars, of rugged standardized construction and cheaply built. Twin motors gave them nimble acceleration.

Attractions

They were designed to easily operate with only a motorman, saving the cost of the conductor that was usually required. The advent of World War I made the single-person operation additionally attractive as it addressed the wartime labor shortage. When labor was available, the Birneys could be operated at more frequent intervals, prompting 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.

Decline

Thousands of the cars were purchased from their inception to a few years after the end of the War. They began to fall from favor because of the deficits that made them initially attractive. Their light weight could be a problem in snow that a heavier car could easily bull through, and ride and even derailment was compromised on poor track, or from the efforts of determined youth. The limited passenger capacity rendered them unsuitable for busy routes and almost any rush hour service, and the public began to deride them as flimsy.

The streetcar companies also found that 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 stuck could be incorporated in larger cars and that the public was not so disturbed by the absence of the conductor as the companies had feared.

Continued use

Their initial rise and fall notwithstanding, the Birney car was useful and durable, and many were shipped to other countries, especially those with small-town lines, where Birneys served for additional decades.