THE CONVENTIONAL TROLLEY CAR of the 1920s and 1930s was
little different, in many respects, from the equipment that
ushered in the industry's years of greatest growth in the first
decade of the twentieth century. There were some design
improvements here and there; Peter Witt, a man who held
the position of Street Railroad Commissioner in Cleveland,
is credited with the design of an improved car that bears his
name--the Peter Witt car--but its principal innovation was
an improved method for collecting fares in an effort to allow
streetcars to reduce unproductive time spent boarding and
discharging passengers. ¹ Peter Witt cars did not introduce
truly major improvements in speed or comfort. Still, large
fleets of cars purchased for service in such cities as Cleve-
land, Baltimore, and Brooklyn followed the Peter Witt prin-
ciples.

One effort that was genuinely novel was launched by
Charles O. Birney, an engineer with the Stone & Webster
Company. Birney advocated a return to a small, 28-foot,
single-truck streetcar, the pilot model of which was built in
1916. The Birney Safety Car, as it came to be called, has
often been misunderstood. Because of its smaller size it has

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