A friend and I were recently discussing the Detroit Citizen's Railway of the recent past: the narrow-gauge line which ran from Grand Circus Plaza down to Cobo on Washington [[un)Blvd. with a later extension along Jefferson to the Renaissance Center. This was an interesting little operation - by no means a form of transit, but an interesting phenomenon here in the "City which put America on wheels." It struck me while we were talking that this little line operated - much of the time without people realizing it - for 27 years! But just as I say that, most people I knew at least knew there was a historic little trolley operating within downtown Detroit.

What started as a neat little way to save and operate a few vintage trolleys for the bi-centennial was then integrated into the "unboulevarding" of Washington Blvd, and was later extended to the east to two other destinations: Hart Plaza and the RenCen. The line began operation around 1976 and continued until 2003, when the juice was shut off for good. Not long after, the cars were removed and the carbarn demolished, and the track and wire torn out in preparation for the reboulevarding of Washington Blvd.

Just a few years before the end of the line, Detroit contracted with Historic Railway Restoration Inc. of Seattle to completely restore three of the 100+ year old cars. These were in addition to a couple others the city had on an active roster plus at least one other car and a frame which were kept on hand and used for parts. What happened to these cars? What about the taxpayer money which went to pay for a grade A restoration [[a real oddity in our city!). Word has it at least the three restored cars are still occupying the corner of a DDOT storage facility someplace, out of view.

Here are some photos my friend took during their last year of service in 2003, including some photos of #14 on what is believed to be it's last run.












Again, not my photos, but I'm glad to share them with members here. Additional photos and some history can be found here:
http://www.railwaypreservation.com/v...ey/detroit.htm

And some older photos of the line: http://www.davesrailpix.com/dsr/dsr.htm

And a roster of all the cars which were owned by the Detroit Citizen's Railway:
Car #1 Closed 1899 St. Louis Car Lisbon, Portugal
Car #2 Closed 1899 St. Louis Car Lisbon
Car #3 Closed 1899 St. Louis Car Lisbon
Car #4 Closed 1925 St. Louis Car Lisbon
Car #5 Closed 1925 Lisbon Lisbon
Car #247 Open Air 1901 Philadelphia Lisbon
Car #6 Closed 1899 St. Louis Car Lisbon
Car #14 Open Air Double Decker 1904 Britain Burton-Trent, England
Car #4-Nestle Closed 1895 Berlin Vevey, Switzerland

I recall riding these a couple times with my family in the 1990s, mostly for the novelty of it, since I've always liked trains. I remember the view from the upper level of the the very rare double-decker #14 over Hart Plaza and Washington Blvd. was fantastic. #14 is perhaps the rarest of the cars Detroit had for this operation. It's story can be read here: http://www.burton-on-trent.org.uk/?cat=84

Historic Railway Restoration, who restored Detroit cars 3, 4 and 247, is very proud of the work they did on these Detroit cars, and still maintains photos of their restoration on their website: http://www.historicrailway.com/3.html

While I was glad to see the money bars/fluorescent lights fiasco that had become Washington Blvd. go in 2004, I was sad to see the trolleys disappear and then all traces of their existence obliterated. Even Trolley Plaza changed its name a few years ago, the last named reminder of the carbarn that had sat out front for nearly 30 years.

If DDOT really does have of these cars still in storage, and I would hope that they do considering some of them were rehabbed and saw little if any service after, where would you envision them running in the city today? Obviously, these would be used for a tourist purpose, not as a part of a real transit service, but their use could have a big impact and again be an icon of some small segment of the city. Where would you use them? I could see them running from the Renaissance Center along the riverfront to Stroh River Place. Or on Belle Isle from the Scott Fountain past the casino, over the canal and along Picnic Avenue and across Loiter Way over to the Conservatory and Aquarium, and maybe even over to The Dossin. How about somewhere else downtown, say the length of Brush between Comerica Park and Jefferson?

I'm curious to know your memories about the old trolley route along Washington and Jefferson and what some ideas are you might have for their reuse, even if only imaginary.