Milwaukee City Streetcars 1950s

The Milwaukee City Streetcar system was part of a larger electric railway network that served the area. This video hi-lights the City streetcars in their twlight years. Featured are the route 10 and 11 plus scenes of other routes and the power plant shuttle. Jack Gervais and Dan Platz provide the narration for their colour film. Jeffrey Wien and Bill Hoffman supply the movies.
This video is a GPS Video Ray Neilson VHS tape which was made in 2001. It is posted here to help preserve the memory of transit historian and videographer Ray Neilson as a tribute to his work, and for future generations to enjoy.

[@IMEMINE.]

I miss my home town, I relocated in ‘78… opportunities were all but bought and sold to foreign countries for pennies on the dollar. We were the machine shop for the world. Still a great city. It has personality, pride and the festivals and food…

[@Richb144]

Fantastic. Much less frantic living. No freeways. Safer. Professional drivers. Better for our older citizens, too, who need mobility but no longer drive a car. Thanks.

[@fares-please]

Thanks for watching!

[@majorleaguemodelsbystevewo9451]

What an absolutely journey into the past!! Very well done bravo!!!

[@banana_junior_9000]

It took over 50-years to understand what we lost. It took 70-years to start the slow processes of bringing track mass transit back.

[@cranez006]

Love the drive through Tosa! Lots of landmark buildings are still there.

[@fares-please]

That’s neat how the buildings are still there!

[@IMEMINE.]

Had superior service even one hundred years ago. Mpls system was not rider friendly since all routes converge to a Mall. I live 7.5 miles away from either downtown. Hour and a half minimum bus ride… and the buses have been generally empty since I moved here in’78. Back home in brew town I could travel from cedarburg to oak creek Waukesha to the lake without any issues. Back in the day I bought a bike on North Avenue somewhere when I lived on the deep south side brought that bike home in a box on a bus.

[@maggy154]

the stretch of track alongside calvary cemetary at around the 30 minute mark still exists! Although the tracks themselves are gone and the area is very overgrown, the giant powerlines overhead still exist. this area is one of the few stretches of trolley line that are still semi recognizable today.

[@frankv7774]

This was a beautifully done piece of art

[@fares-please]

Ray Neilson did produce some fantastic videos.

[@frankv7774]

@@fares-please Awesome find thanks for posting...Hard to believe that the McKinley Blvd. Duplex I grew up in, which the film shows was already 44 years old in 57'. Now it's 110 years old my mom still lives there and minus the old cars the neighbor looks exactly the same. Downtown isn't as gritty anymore though.

[@user-zx8de8op9l]

Thank you for sharing, I wasn't born till 1974, I have an interest in old 50's cars, and there were plenty to see. I am familiar with Reddy Kilowatt.

[@beepbeep3000]

55:32 1960's GM "Fishbowl" TDH-5303 buses were soon to be retired. Milwaukee County Transit System 2028 on N. Water St. at E. Erie St. in the Historic Third Ward and assigned to [then] Route 11 (Vliet-Howell). 56:08 Kinnickinnic Ave. Drawbridge in the mid-1950's 56:36 Milwaukee County Transit System 1941 crossing (the current) Kinnickinnic Ave. Drawbridge over the Kinnickinnic River in May 2001. Closed in 1996 for replacement and opened in 1998. Have a nice day/night.

[@beepbeep3000]

0:11 A Brand New Milwaukee County Transit System 4400-Series New Flyer D40LF bus on W. Michigan St. at N. 3rd St. in Downtown Milwaukee in May 2001 Assigned to Route 80 (6th St.) on detour with closure of the old 6th Street Viaduct which was being dismantled at the time of this video. Have a nice day/night.

[@yvonneacosta2539]

👍

[@tincan77]

Milwaukee before the Great Migration looked wonderful

[@anishapoorwakispotta7754]

Film is after great migration Also it was the white Americans destroying infrastructure But I guess your hatred for black people don't give you enough brain cells to think straight