El Reno Heritage Express Trolley

El Reno's first trolley era lasted from 1911 to 1947, when the town was a terminal of the El Reno Interurban Railway — later the Oklahoma Railway Company — with service to Oklahoma City that faded after World War II as affordable automobiles pulled riders away. The modern Heritage Express grew out of revitalization work the city began in 1988 through the Main Street America program. Unable to pay alone for rebuilding downtown's flood-prone drainage, the city won a federal ISTEA grant to reconstruct streets and sewers on the condition that it also install and maintain a rail-based transit system, with El Reno covering 20 percent of the $1.7 million project. The city turned to the Canadian County Historical Society, which already occupied the former rail depot, to operate the line, and service began on August 25, 2001 — then the only operating streetcar in Oklahoma. The trolley reached the big screen in 2024, when it appeared in the film Twisters being derailed by a tornado.