Street Railway Service in Detroit Ended 55 Years Ago Today [[April 8, 1956)

[bc_n_dtown]

This slide was just listed on EBAY of DSR Peter Witt car #3888. A rare color image of the older non-Maroon DSR colors. Anyone recognize this location based on the building behind?

Rocko, that's the old Trumbull streetcar southbound on Woodrow Wilson just south of Oakman Blvd. on its way downtown. The former Michigan Bell/Yellow Pages Building is in the background. Based on the color scheme it was more than likely taken sometime between 1946 and 1950 when the cream and black trimming paint scheme was used. The last of the Witts were repainted cream and red trim around 1950.

BTW, Great Photo!

[bc_n_dtown]

Did the DSR own the SW&A till the very end? I can't remember. If so, were they responsable for Windsor's loss of the Streetcar as well??

Windsor's SW&A [[Sandwich, Windsor & Amherstburg Railway) was never owned by the DSR but by the D.U.R. [[Detroit United Railway), the same privately-owned company that also operated the streetcars in Detroit and interurban lines around SE Michigan.

According to a few online sources, the DUR took over ownership of the SW&A from Aug 1901 until Mar 1920, after which multiple municipality ownership took over operations. The municipal owners of the system included the cities of Windsor, East Windsor, the towns of La Salle, Riverside, Tecumseh, Amherstburg, Sandwich, Walkerville, and other towns and townships, with the streecars operated by Ontario's Hydro Electric Railways. It was under this operation when the system replaced the streetcars in 1920 with electric trolley-buses, but alternated between motor buses [[1926), and back to streetcars [[1931), until buses finally took over for the last time in 1939. The company was later sold to an independent operator.

After the company's franchise expired in 1970, the SW&A became the sole property of the City of Windsor. The city officially changed the name to Transit Windsor, effective Nov 1, 1977.

[Rocko]

bc n dtown, thanks for your insight into the Peter Witt photo....I KNEW that building in the backdrop looked familiar! I've not seen too many color images of Peter Witts in Detroit in anything other than the late cream and maroon DSR scheme, which I think looked great on them. The black and cream looked good too [[and probably better if it had a bath!). What are those shield logos on the side? I've seen a couple other photos of later-era DSR Peter Witts with that logo on the side. Is this some kind of interim/special DSR shield? The normal DSR logo looked like this:

[bc_n_dtown]

What are those shield logos on the side? I've seen a couple other photos of later-era DSR Peter Witts with that logo on the side. Is this some kind of interim/special DSR shield? The normal DSR logo looked like this:

That shield emblem you're referring to was displayed on DSR streetcars [[and on its Ford buses) during WWII and could still be found on a number of its vehicles through the early 50's. The emblem read something along these lines....

**V**
BUY
WAR BONDS
AND
STAMPS

I guess you could say the DSR was patriotic and down for the cause.

[bc_n_dtown]

I was reading through some of the earlier posts in this thread and just wanted to add a slight correction regarding how long the former Detroit PCC streetcars remained in service in Mexico City. The last of the cars ran until 1984, and are not still operating today. The remaining cars that were undergoing restoration were destroyed during an 8.1 earthquake that struck Mexico City on September 19, 1985, when the repair facility collapsed and crushed the cars. However, salvageable parts from the destroyed cars were used to build 17 new cars, but these are no longer in service as well.

Fortunately, back in June 1981, the Michigan Transit Museum was able to bring back former DSR car #268, which it still owns.

[Rocko]

After the company's franchise expired in 1970, the SW&A became the sole property of the City of Windsor. The city officially changed the name to Transit Windsor, effective Nov 1, 1977.

Many people don't know that, only by coincidence, both Transit Windsor and DDOT currently pay tribute to their heritage in the form of a historic coach still in their fleets.

Transit Windsor operates GMC New Look coach #912, which is painted in the SW&A colors. Here's a photo from Wikipedia:



Although their GM New Look fleet of coaches has been recently taken off the road, as far as I know, it still operates in regular service around the city of Roses. If you go to DDOT's homepage and look closely, SW&A #912 is parked under the Rosa Parks Transit Center roof on their rotating website banner in the background behind a new DDOT New Flyer D40LF coach.

DDOT also maintains a heritage coach: GMC New Look #2621, painted in the DSR colors of the late 60s. Here's a photo of it from Flickr:



The bus was being kept out back of Central Maintenance on E. Warren early in the 2000's decade. It was cleaned up mid-decade and kept inside the old Shoemaker Terminal out of the weather, and made an appearance at the dedication of Rosa Parks and also attended a few special events on Belle Isle, but hasn't been out and about recently. Seems like it would make a cool PR piece, if only DDOT would use it more.

Of course, neither of these are a classic streetcar. It would be great to see some TLC put into DSR PCC #268 at the Michigan Transit Museum. If it can't be restored to operating condition at the present time, then they should move it down to Hart Plaza or near Campus Martius and cosmetically restore it and set it up as a visitor's information center downtown. While it's there they can work on raising money for its restoration.