Remnants of a streetcar system

[citylover]

Not Detroit instead Los Angeles but interesting anyway saw this in the WSJ




http://www.secretstairs-la.com/welcome.html

[Hermod]

I am not sure how much you can still see in Detroit, but out in Oakland County, you can still find parts of the old interurban grading along Livernois, Orion Road, and the trestle embankment entering Rochester. There are probably other remains along the lines to Flint and Imlay City to include old substation buildings converted to other uses, bridge embankments, and old stations.

[econ expat]

And an old power plant in Farmington...
When they rebuilt Farmington Rd at Grand River, they found out that the street car tracks were still there, paved over long ago.

[Al Publican]

Are there any photos of the DSR turn around at Harper and Morang from the 1950s o or earlier? As a kid growing up in that area, I remember a so-called comfort station at Harper and Morang in NE Detroit where a street car line ended. Correct me if my memory is wrong on said location and setting.

[Wingnatic]

As a kid growing up in Ferndale [[probably mid 1950's-mid 1960's) I used to see rail tracks in the medium on Woodward in the area from around St.James Church to Marshall St . [[ where B'wana Don's was located ) most likely streetcar tracks .
The city most likely covered the tracks with dirt when the streetcars stopped .

[Magnatomicflux]

Not Detroit either, but what the hell, right? We've got some here in Windsor. Aside from some preserved in a crosswalk in Sandwich towne:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...209.76,,2,7.01

There are some on Elm Avenue:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...36.88,,1,-0.52

Attachment 8031

Which is right around the corner from the powerhouse and carbarns of the SW&A railway. which ran cars from Windsor, to Tecumseh and Amherstburg.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...335.53,,0,0.31

And I can't say for sure, but on Victoria turning east onto Park St.....there are two parallel curves in the center of the road, and the line did that here. I can't see rails yet, but I bet they poke their "heads" thru sooner or later.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...144.67,,1,15.5

And, if you head all the way out to Kingsville, you find the powerhouse of the WE&LS railway, SW&A's rival.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...23.61,,0,-0.52

The WE&LS ran cars from Windsor, up Howard and along Talbot road, where a ROW can still be seen in Maidstone. After passing thru Essex, it then turned south going thru Kingsville and on to Leamington. In their time, they were the longest street railways in Canada.
There could be more....I just don't know where.


I know there are some in Detroit around MCS, unless they've been torn up since the streetview car went by.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...337.67,,1,8.91

[MikeM]

Are there any photos of the DSR turn around at Harper and Morang from the 1950s o or earlier? As a kid growing up in that area, I remember a so-called comfort station at Harper and Morang in NE Detroit where a street car line ended. Correct me if my memory is wrong on said location and setting.

There's this photo of the Morang/Harper/Chester intersection from the Virtual Motor City. Looks like fresh construction; is this where the comfort station was?

http://tinyurl.com/2g8at6k

[Hermod]

There's this photo of the Morang/Harper/Chester intersection from the Virtual Motor City. Looks like fresh construction; is this where the comfort station was?

http://tinyurl.com/2g8at6k

I think that was buses only. I don't believe the Harper streetcar went that far east. In 1942, the Harper tracks turned south at Schoenherr.

[Detroitnerd]

Last time I checked, you could still see a bit of the Wayburn Loop, deflecting up from under the blacktop behind the intersection of Wayburn and Jefferson, IIRC.

There was also a bit sticking up in front of the Detroit Repertory Theatre on Woodrow Wilson.

[mikefmich]

Are there any photos of the DSR turn around at Harper and Morang from the 1950s o or earlier? As a kid growing up in that area, I remember a so-called comfort station at Harper and Morang in NE Detroit where a street car line ended. Correct me if my memory is wrong on said location and setting.

No your not. It was on the s.w. corner. My ma dragged me downtown on the streetcar from there the last week they ran.

[mikefmich]

I think that was buses only. I don't believe the Harper streetcar went that far east. In 1942, the Harper tracks turned south at Schoenherr.

They did go to the comfort station there. It's my one clear memory of the streetcar system. But that photo was not where the comfort station stood. It was fully on the westside of Harper.

[Hermod]

They did go to the comfort station there. It's my one clear memory of the streetcar system. But that photo was not where the comfort station stood. It was fully on the westside of Harper.

Mike, that sure must have been a long time ago because I have looked at both a 1941 and a 1942 map of the DSR streetcar system and they both show the Harper line ending at Schoenherr.

http://detroittransithistory.info/DS...rvice-1941.gif

Was it prior to 1941 that you remember?

[MikeM]

I didn't think the street car system ever went that far east on Harper. Were these "comfort stations" used by bus passengers for a period after the end of the rail system?

[Hermod]

I didn't think the street car system ever went that far east on Harper. Were these "comfort stations" used by bus passengers for a period after the end of the rail system?

I know that there was a Harper bus out that far. When my mother wanted the car, my father would walk over to Harper and Grayton to take the bus down to his job at Milwaukee and Russell.

.

[EastsideAl]

Mike, that sure must have been a long time ago because I have looked at both a 1941 and a 1942 map of the DSR streetcar system and they both show the Harper line ending at Schoenherr.

http://detroittransithistory.info/DS...rvice-1941.gif

Was it prior to 1941 that you remember?

Not Schoenherr, Shoemaker. It ran down Shoemaker to the car barns near St. Jean. Schoenherr starts at 6 Mile and runs north into Macomb Cty.

[mikefmich]

Mike, that sure must have been a long time ago because I have looked at both a 1941 and a 1942 map of the DSR streetcar system and they both show the Harper line ending at Schoenherr.

http://detroittransithistory.info/DS...rvice-1941.gif

Was it prior to 1941 that you remember?

Oh hell I wasn't born yet in '41.

I lived about a mile from there, and I passed there on the way to church down Cadiuex every week at least once.

But without doubt, she wanted to take the streetcar for a last time the final week before they shutdown.....1956 maybe? The comfort station was where we boarded.

Some days I think I'm getting senile, but I would bet 99.9%
on this.

[Hermod]

Not Schoenherr, Shoemaker. It ran down Shoemaker to the car barns near St. Jean. Schoenherr starts at 6 Mile and runs north into Macomb Cty.

I was trying to read off of a poor map reproduction. You are probably right, it was Shoemaker. From the 1942 traction map I have, the words are blurred. I just assumed Schoenherr as it was a N-S road east of Van Dyke and in 1961, I lived just off Schoenherr between 7 and 8 mile.

[Hermod]

Oh hell I wasn't born yet in '41.

I lived about a mile from there, and I passed there on the way to church down Cadiuex every week at least once.

But without doubt, she wanted to take the streetcar for a last time the final week before they shutdown.....1956 maybe? The comfort station was where we boarded.

Some days I think I'm getting senile, but I would bet 99.9%
on this.

The only streetcars running in 1956 were Gratiot and Woodward. They were both discontinued in that year. Was there some kind of a station shelter at Gratiot and 8-Mile built to serve the old Eastwood Park riders? Possibly a comfort station at the State Fair Loop on the Woodward line.

[Hermod]

Oh hell I wasn't born yet in '41.

I lived about a mile from there, and I passed there on the way to church down Cadiuex every week at least once.

But without doubt, she wanted to take the streetcar for a last time the final week before they shutdown.....1956 maybe? The comfort station was where we boarded.

Some days I think I'm getting senile, but I would bet 99.9%
on this.

The only streetcars running in 1956 were Gratiot and Woodward. They were both discontinued in that year. Was there some kind of a station shelter at Gratiot and 8-Mile built to serve the old Eastwood Park riders? Possibly a comfort station at the State Fair Loop on the Woodward line.

[Augustiner]

Okay, I pulled out some maps too. Let's have a map party!

My maps say that the outbound Harper streetcar turned north on Van Dyke and went out to 8 Mile. The line you all are seeing that ran east on Harper and Shoemaker and south on St. Jean to the river was the easternmost end of the Clairmount belt line, which was converted to bus in 1951 and is still an operating DDOT route.

My map just says "Here Be Dragons" over where Harper and Morang should be, though. I wish I had one of postwar bus routes.

[Hermod]

My map just says "Here Be Dragons" over where Harper and Morang should be, though. I wish I had one of postwar bus routes.

My map has the "compass arrow" showing north about where Harper and Morang should be.

[Hermod]

Not a map, but here are the bus routes 1966-1974.

http://www.detroittransithistory.inf...teNumbers.html

[Augustiner]

Not a map, but here are the bus routes 1966-1974.

http://www.detroittransithistory.inf...teNumbers.html

Interesting, thanks. That shows that there were E. Seven Mile and Cadillac-Harper buses introduced at some point after the war, which would be the two present-day DDOT routes that serve that intersection. I don't suppose that area was built up enough in the '20s to warrant a streetcar extension.

[mikefmich]

The only streetcars running in 1956 were Gratiot and Woodward. They were both discontinued in that year. Was there some kind of a station shelter at Gratiot and 8-Mile built to serve the old Eastwood Park riders? Possibly a comfort station at the State Fair Loop on the Woodward line.

'56 was a guesstimate on my part. Were they running on the far eastside in 54 or 55? I was not overjoyed over having to go downtown shopping with my Ma until I was a little bit older. I remember thinking it was just silly to force me into a downtown trip just because she wanted to ride the streetcar one last time.

Times like this is when I really miss having my ma to ask. When her mind was still healthy, her memory was like a steel trap.

Hmmm. Wonder if I dig out my ma's yearly datebooks...she wrote down almost everything. I'm gonna check the attic.

[Hermod]

'56 was a guesstimate on my part. Were they running on the far eastside in 54 or 55? I was not overjoyed over having to go downtown shopping with my Ma until I was a little bit older. I remember thinking it was just silly to force me into a downtown trip just because she wanted to ride the streetcar one last time.

Times like this is when I really miss having my ma to ask. When her mind was still healthy, her memory was like a steel trap.

Hmmm. Wonder if I dig out my ma's yearly datebooks...she wrote down almost everything. I'm gonna check the attic.

Baker went down in 1952, East Jefferson went down in 1954, Michigan went down in 1955, and Gratiot and Woodward in 1956. Those were the last street car lines in the D.

When we went downtown, we took the 6-Mile bus [[Whittier-Kelly-Seymour-McNicholls) over to Seymour and Gratiot by the Ramona Theater. We would then get on the Gratiot streetcar to go downtown.