7 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

DETROIT —M-1 Rail is set to begin testing the QLine streetcar with a small motorized inspection car called a “speeder,” Crain’s reports.

The vehicle will travel the rail line as part of a testing regimen that ensures the route is free of obstructions, taking into account the physical dimensions of the vehicle, and ensures proper maintenance of traffic. The slow-moving speeder is operated by a driver and will be flanked by safety vehicles. For the full story, click here.

The "speeder" is coming! QLINE track testing officially underway. First vehicle on rail in Detroit in 60 yrs. pic.twitter.com/5m6PLNJ8Nh

— M-1 RAIL (@M1RAIL) August 23, 2016

Keywords

M-1 Rail   QLine   safety   streetcar   testing   

 

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[CNJRoss]

Detroit Free Press, 8/22:
 

Small, motorized car to test QLINE route downtown

 

Testing for Detroit's streetcar track will mean intermittent lane closures Tuesday along Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit.

 

A small motorized inspection car  known as a speeder will drive along the tracks between Larned and Adams to check for obstructions and to make sure the streetcars will be able to manage turns on the route when the system is operational, according to information from M-1 Rail, the entity overseeing the project.

 

 

Despite its name, the car will travel slowly and will be flanked on both ends by safety vehicles, M-1 Rail said in a news release.

 

Continue here.

[KevinKorell]

Progressive Railroading, 8/29/16:

M-1 Rail is testing track for new Detroit streetcar

M-1 Rail last week began testing track on Detroit's QLINE streetcar route. On Aug. 23, the agency sent a small motorized inspection car known as a "speeder"  along the route on Woodward Avenue.

More

[Sloan]

 

 

Detroit to receive first streetcar for light rail system

Short article here:

http://www.washingto...or-light-rail-/

[Sloan]

 

Hello Detroit!  The #Qline is on the tracks!

 

DETROIT, Mich. – The first streetcar for Detroit’s new light rail system has arrived in the city.

http://wlns.com/2016...ht-rail-system/

[Sloan]

From O Scale Trolley Modelers:

 

[KevinKorell]

Detroit, MI Free Press, 12/13/16:

 

​

Detroit's new streetcar QLINE takes maiden test run on Woodward

 

A QLINE streetcar rode down Woodward Avenue on Tuesday in its maiden test run as passersbys around Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit pulled out smartphones to snap pictures and paused to chat about its official launch next year.

Update

[Sloan]

 

 

A Streetcar Named Detroit

 

Horse-drawn streetcars crisscrossed Detroit’s major thoroughfares by the early 1860’s, charging a nickel a ride. By the time I lived off desolate, drug-soaked Woodward Ave. in the Eighties – back when many suburbanites wouldn’t cross Eight Mile on a bet – the last streetcar had been gone for 30 years. After a final procession in 1956 for two dozen sturdy PCC streetcars -- the postwar standard from Brooklyn and Boston to San Francisco and Washington, D.C. – Motown’s cars were sold to Mexico City and replaced by smoke-belching GM diesel buses. White flight was just getting underway. And a fateful 1967 riot paved Detroit’s road to ruin as one of the nation’s most racially divided and downtrodden cities.

https://www.yahoo.co...-230816321.html