What is a Birney?

The Birney electric street cars (Officially, the Birney Safety Car) were a small, single truck vehicle which was much lighter than conventional

streetcars of the time. They were mass produced by the J G Brill Company (almost 200 in 1916) and sold by the thousands (4,200 by 1920) because they were inexpensive, and could be operated by a single motorman, without the assistance of a conductor. This was a selling feature because The Great War caused a shortage of labour. They also required less maintenance. They had two electric motors on the single truck so it had lots of quick response and pick up. The Birney also introduced the use of pneumatically balanced and interlocked doors. If a door was stuck open, or a passenger or other object blocked the door, the motors could not be started. The controls on the Birney Car also included an early application of the "deadman control". This device removed power from the car's motors and applied the air brakes if the controller handle was released for any reason, causing the car to come to an abrupt stop. Many cities began to sell off their fleet in the years after the war, due to their low passenger capacity (30 people) and light weight, which resulted in too many derailments, and made it difficult to navigate through snow. Production ended in 1930 after more than 6,000 cars were sold.

This particular Birney (#313) is owned by The Spring Valley Electric Railway in French Lick, Indiana. The post card was published by Transit Cards.com, they are no longer in business and I can find no history on them.

I do, however, have information on this next publisher. Taken from their own website: "Founded in 1964 by the late Carl H. Sturner, Audio-Visual Designs

has been a leader in providing high quality railroad images products for over 4 decades. The business was originally located in Earlton, NY. The name was derived by the products sold at the time – audio soundtracks of trains well as visual items (post cards, books, & calendars). The first All Pennsy Calendar was published in 1966 and for many years used exclusively the photos of Don Wood, a long time friend of Carl's. In the late 80's, Carl started showcasing other photographer's work as well. Railroad Christmas cards were added to the line of products early on and with a few exceptions have featured real photos of trains in action. Three railroad books have been published by Audio-Visual Designs: I Remember Pennsy, Locomotives in My Life, and The Unique New York and Long Branch: all of which were projects worked on by Carl and Mr. Wood. Audio-Visual Designs has also published books for other non-railroad related organizations."

This is a picture on the front of the post card showing another Birney Car,

this one from Fort Collins, Colorado. It was built in 1919. It was restored by the Fort Collins Women's Club as a civic project. This picture of car #21 is while it is at West Mountain and Roosevelt Street on its way to City Park. The photo was taken on June 10, 1989. The Fort Collins Municipal Railway is still running today. $2 for adults, $1 for seniors and children, free for children under 3. http://www.fortcollinstrolley.org/welcome.html