After running the system in the red for four years, the end came on June 30, 1951. Car 22 was the last car to run over the line, as it turned out for 33 years. The fare from 1919 through 1951 was never more than 5 cents. For a nickel, a rider could travel the entire system on the same car as long as desired. Every Summer we talk to riders who rode the Birneys as kids, either to get to and from the Fort Collins High School on Pitkin St. each day or when thier parents would visit the City.
Many parents put thier kids on the streetcars while they visited friends or shopped.
The City provided cheap day care that the kids remember fondly. Most of the tracks were quickly paved over or torn up by 1952, and the cars were scattered across the country. Car 21, the first of the original five Birneys to operate, was kept and put on display. Most of the other remaining cars faired better, as listed in the FCMR Photo Gallery. After being forgotten for over a quarter century, a local volunteer group began restoring Car 21 in 1977.