Life & Work with Jim Bowers of north west fort collins

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Bowers.

Hi jim, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Fort Collins Municipal Railway was started in 1919. The electric street cars operate from a 600 volt overhead wire. The system ran through downtown Fort Collins area until 1951. In the late 1970s restoration on our car 21 was started by volunteers and made it first public run on December 29, 1984. In 1985 we started our weekend scheduled historical service. We continue today with our 107 year old car 21. Car 21 has carried over 330,000 passengers since 1985. It has never left Fort Collins. Our second street car #25 is 104 year old. It operated in Fort Collins 1946 through 1951. When the system was shutdown it moved to southern Colorado then the east coast and back to Fort Collins in 2007. After it restoration it was returned to weekend service in 2020.
We operate Saturday and Sunday weekends 12 to 5 and can be hired for charters other day. Charters are available for school groups, birthday parties, family reunions, etc.
We have about 60 volunteers. Motormen (street car operators), conductors (history docents), depot agents (sell fare tokens, souvenirs), many behind the scenes maintenance workers and board members.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In the 1970-1980 we had no money, relied on donations of material and volunteers. Finding people that knew how to make the old street cars run, and how to operate them. Some residence along Mountain Ave were opposed to restarting the trolley line. Today keeping old equipment running. Keeping a good core of volunteers.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
It’s not about me, it’s about the trolleys.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
Carol Tunner- started to rescue of car 21 and continues today as ‘throwing in advice”.
Roger Smith- was major restorer of car21
Chuck Bade- our chief mechanic that keeps the cars running.
too many other the are major contributes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fortcollinstrolley.org

Image Credits
Current images are labeled to credit trolley volunteer, Tim Dillon

Historic Images should be credited to Fort Collins Museum of Discovery Historical Collection.

To download more historical photos yourself. Visit this page:
https://fchc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/search/searchterm/trolley%20FCMR%20FCMRA!Municipal%20Railway/field/all!all/mode/any!exact/conn/or!and/order/nosort?_gl=1*13rjyoi*_ga*MTc1ODIyNjU5NC4xNzEwOTYzMTI5*_ga_QZZKE3N3CV*czE3NzA4NzE1NzkkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzA4NzIyNTIkajU2JGwwJGgw

And for more historical information including oral histories, visit: https://history.fcgov.com/explore/trolley