A current collector for a railway trolley vehicle includes a current collecting member having a contact strip, a driving system for moving the current collecting member into and out of contact with a trolley wire, a load cell for detecting force acting between the current collecting member and the driving system, a displacement meter for detecting displacement of the driving system, first and second estimating circuits, and a control circuit. The first estimating circuit provides an estimated value of the contact force between the current collector and the trolley wire by estimating values of first parameters of the contact strip, the current collecting member, and the trolley wire and summing products of each of these values and a corresponding weighting factor. The second estimating circuit provides an estimated value of a disturbance suppressing force by estimating values of second parameters of the contact strip, the current collecting member, and the trolley wire and summing products of each of these values and a corresponding weighting factor. The control circuit calculates a difference force value by subtracting the estimated contact force value and the estimated disturbance suppressing force value from a contact force target value. The control circuit then adjusts a pushing-up force of the driving system on the basis of the calculated force difference value.