In 1977, the Fort Collins Junior Women's Club proposed giving 1919-built streetcar 21 a cosmetic restoration, as the car suffered from years of exposure. This proposal evolved into a more ambitious plan to restore the car to operating condition, and restore a section of the former streetcar system as an operating heritage railway. With this goal, the non-profit Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society (FCMRS) was formed on March 31, 1980. A new carbarn was built at the west end of Mountain Avenue in 1982–1983, and car 21 was moved there on August 21, 1983. Volunteers from FCMRS then began restoring car 21. Under an agreement signed in 1981, the city permitted FCMRS to restore a section of track along West Mountain Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue and operate the streetcar along it. The section of route chosen for restoration was part of the city's first streetcar line, opened in 1907. A substation to provide 600Vdc electric power was purchased, and overhead wires were reinstalled along the route.