Detroit Ended its Streetcar Operation 53 Years Ago Today.

[bc_n_dtown]

Today, April 8, 2009, marks the 53rd Anniversary of the ending of street railway service in the city of Detroit. On this date in 1956, GM diesel buses replaced PCC streetcars on Woodward Avenue, thus bringing to a close a chapter in this city's transit history that lasted nearly 93 years.

In commemoration of that event, the following web-page on the Detroit Transit History website takes a look back at the last days of streetcar operation in Detroit, and the subsequent sale and operation of the cars in Mexico City.

For those interested the article can be found at:
http://www.detroittransithistory.inf...roitPCC-5.html

For those primarily interested in photos there's also a 2-page photo gallery section devoted to the city's PCC fleet. The first page begins at:
http://www.detroittransithistory.inf...tos1940sC.html
[[New photos were recently added to Second Page)

[Bobl]

Great post!
I'm one of the old guard who remembers them. Lived near 8 Mile Rd & Gratiot, and liked watching the streetcars turn around for return trips on Gratiot. I was quite young, but used the street cars many times, usually with my mother on shopping trips to Hudson's downtown. Still remember the ozone smell!

[Irvine Laird]

Does the Michigan Transit Museum still own one its old PCC from the DSR fleet? A couple of years ago, I found photographs of it on the MTM Website, but a quick search today turned up nothing.

My dream is to restore that old streetcar and move it to a permanent display in front of the Detroit Historical Museum on Woodward. I wonder if the Michigan Transit Museum would let the Detroit Museum borrow it.

[iheartthed]

Detroit's loss is Mexico City's gain...

[Rocko]

Yep, PCC 268 is the one MTM has. It got exterior paint a few years back but already looks worse for wear again. My idea was they should restore it and put it at the end of Woodward at Jefferson [[or someplace else of equal visibility) and open up the inside as a tourism/information booth type thing. Or, the Historical Museum is fine, too. A visitor's information booth in Midtown might not be a bad idea either. Below is a photo of the 268 at MTM from a few years back, when it was looking a bit better, that I found in an online hunt a few years ago....sorry I don't remember the source.

That's not the only surviving DSR streetcar out there. Two Peter Witt types exist, as well. One is the 3865, and the other is the 3876.


Peter Witt #3876, painted in the later attractive Maroon and Creme DSR scheme. It is at the Ohio Railway Museum, Worthington OH.
http://www.ohiorailwaymuseum.org/mus...detroitcar.jpg

Peter Witt #3865, painted in the earlier DSR creme and green colors. It went to the Henry Ford Museum after retirement and underwent a partial renovation before being stored out of sight. The exterior restoration was completed when it was sold to the Illinois Rail Museum in Union, IL in 1998, where it is on display.
http://www.irm.org/pictures/600/3865dsr01.jpg

PCC #268, painted in the attractive PCC version of the Maroon and creme. This is the only surviving PCC from the Detroit fleet, which once numbered 186 President's Conference Committee cars. It went with the rest of the Detroit PCC fleet into service in Mexico City, and was returned to Michigan in the 1990s. It is at the Michigan Transit Museum at Selfridge ANG base in Mt. Clemens.
http://lyttonspccs.homestead.com/263.html


Here's an article from 1998 about the DSR 3865, and the irresponsibility of the Henry Ford Museum. Happily, the story has turned happy, though the car is now a long way from it's home.
http://www.michigantransitmuseum.org/gaz_may.html

[Mackinaw]

And a sad day it was.

Time to start looking forward to the future of street rail in Detroit, though. The priority needs to be on making the Woodward Light rail as great as it can be.

I just saw the very interesting video I'm posting below about a 1.3 mile, 11-stop light rail line in Seattle. I think this shows just how substantial Detroit's current undertaking is. Note also the part about how the line spurred downtown Seattle's first new grocery store in decades. ...some of Detroit's problems aren't THAT unique.
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/...autostart=true

[sam]

Today, April 8, 2009, marks the 53rd Anniversary of the ending of street railway service in the city of Detroit.

Our family arrived in Highland Park in 1953. I remember riding the streetcars down to Hudson's. I also remember the original smoke stacks of the Ford plant that used to border Woodward Ave. Street cars are making a comeback. There are a couple projects here in DC that are either planned or underway.

Sam