https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/db1faa42-c003-4aa7-887b-78b4f4e80347 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Help us preserve, scan and post more rare and endangered films! Join us on Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com This vintage transportation film is created by the Detroit Department of Street Railways (D.S.R) as a promotional film (00:00). Viewers travel around old Detroit in the mid-1930s as the city grew into a major hub for the transportation industry. It details how locals get around focusing on use of the D.S.R line. The film boasts of the line’s excellence in maintenance, cost and service. The D.S.R. was founded in 1922 and was the progenitor of DDOT; the Detroit Department of Transportation. D.S.R managed the Detroit United railway system. The last of the streetcars were decommissioned in 1956. Al Weeks narrates (:17). A trolley car of the DSR line is shown, probably a double ended Birney Safety Car or similar (:25). A railway employee wipes the company logo clean (:32). 1930’s automobiles and a Yellow Coach bus run by the rail line (:58) as the narrator stresses the value of public transit. During this time period; nearly a million rode the D.S.R. street cars and busses daily (1:07). Detroit’s history as a hub for transportation began in 1902. A Ford transit bus navigates past Detroit's Highland Park property (1:25), site of the first Highland Park Plant, opened in 1909. Inevitably it would be the automotive industry which would decimate the rail car industry by the close of the 1950's. Over 30 acres of yards are set aside for rail car storage (1:32). Other major rail car companies of the time are mentioned including Coolidge, Shoemaker and Jefferson Car Housing (1:42). Maintenance men perform routine maintenance (1:50). A hydraulic jack pumps the 16000 lb. car up (1:53). A fresh layer of paint is sprayed on (2:05). A rail car runs through the shower rack (2:31). Window washers snap to work (2:55). An 18 ton truck moves towards the moveable platform (3:14). A view follows from over the driver's shoulder as he moves down city roads (3:56). Mistersky power plant is pictured (4:06). Energy for the trolleys is sourced from here. A massive drag scraper scoops coal from the mound (4:22). A conveyor belt runs fuel to the bunker (4:28). The boilers are pictured (4:40). Various meters monitor the boilers performance (4:48). Four massive turbines (4:55) convert steam energy to electrical energy. One of the 18 substations is pictured (5:16). A repair truck runs out to save a broken tire (5:36). Workers build tracks for the rail cars (6:15). Detroit added 75 miles of rail line (6:20). Construction of the rail line is discussed (6:30). A mold with a sand core is fit tight over the joint (6:42). Magnesium and iron are combined in a pot (6:50). Molten iron welds the rails together (6:58). The cooled mold is broken (7:08) displaying one connected piece of steel. D.S.R. was able to construct new rails without hindering the flow of the established rail line (7:41). The rail line mainly served the working community (8:16). Riders move through a gate to pay fares (8:47). Another car of the D.S.R. line arrives for a different group of workers (9:14). Four cars of the D.S.R. appear (9:34) among a massive crowd. A young couple stands in the street as a horse-drawn trolley or horse car is shown (9:43). D.S.R. began in 1873, running horse cars on Jefferson Ave (10:03). 1892 saw Detroit's first electric car (10:14) and the final horse car disappeared in 1896. Bus lines were established for distant communities (10:39). A repair shop is visited (10:58). Two wheels are set to be added to a 10 ton car (11:04). Buses peel from their garage (11:11). Population increase led to the expansion of the bus line (11:35). The trackless trolley bus, probably a Brill (11:43) on Plymouth Rd. Traffic regulations between rail cars and autos (12:24). Detroit was known for having low fares. Locals move down the line looking at the rail cars (12:49). Routes and costing are noted on a map (13:31). A steam locomotive (13:44). The rail car is noted to be the most economical. Seal of D.S.R. (13:59). Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtYdxdikmjE Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:19:25 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/db1faa42-c003-4aa7-887b-78b4f4e80347 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.