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DEPARTMENT OF STREET RAILWAYS (D.S.R.) 1941 STREETCAR ROUTE MAP



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style PCC cars were purchased between 1945-49 to provide service on four of the major rail lines; first Woodward, then Gratiot

and Jefferson, and later Michigan. However, all street railway operation in Detroit would come to an end on April 8, 1956, when

the DSR's last remaining streetcar line—Woodward Avenue—was converted to diesel bus operation.



© 2011 (DetroitTransitHistory.info) (PAGE LAST UPDATED 03-12-11)



(Map courtesy of Schramm Collection — Jim Buckley Collection Photo)



FOR A LISTING OF DATES WHEN DSR CAR-LINES WERE CONVERTED TO BUSES SEE: D.S.R. RAIL LINE ABANDONMENTS



(click-on map for larger more detailed version)



The above map displays the Detroit Department of Street Railways (DSR) streetcar

railway grid as it existed in December 1941, the same month the U.S. entered World

War II. The DSR would enter the war years with 20 railcar routes serviced by 910

streetcars, 779 of which were Peter Witt style cars (left photo) purchased between

1921 and 1930. With a few exceptions, most of the city's railway grid had basically

remained unchanged since the mid-1920s, as more emphasis was being placed on

building-up the city's motor bus operation.



Because restrictions imposed by the U. S. Office of Defense Transportation (ODT)

in 1942 would require the usage of streetcars in place of buses wherever possible,

to help conserve gasoline and rubber, the DSR's campaign to convert its entire

system over to buses would be put on hold until after the end of the war in 1945.



Although 16 of the routes would be converted over to buses by 1952, 186 modern

