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M-1 Rail reveals design of streetcar facility
Is this facility able to be used as is, should the system expand beyond the initial trackage into the suburbs?
Is this a new building being constructed or extensive renovation of an existing facility? I ask since according the renderings it appears to be a 1950/60s construction.
It looks great, actually Bradley, I know that in Chicago zoning makes new construction match the existing surrounding neighborhood, since Detroit is an “old” city like Chicago is, it might dictate the same, but I don’t know that in Detroit.
It’s new construction with a bit of a retro look
Hopfully this works - link gives info about the M-1 project. They are building it in an “empty” overgrown field with the building facing Woodward Ave
http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2014/05/m1-tech-center.php
I don’t understand what kind of logic produced this design, assuming that the building is a repair shop, and that the fence is end-of-track (it appears that bumping posts are there). Not sure what the fleet size is, but unless those tracks are only for storage of crippled cars awaiting repair, every car shown there must traverse the shop building to access the revenue trackage. No run-around track is shown that would allow access to both ends of the building. If there’d be a transfer table within the building that’d be somewhat of an operational improvement, but then that reduces the useful square footage for repair purposes.
Thus the trackage visible surely can’t work efficiently as a holding facility for cars awaiting a call to operational service. No work could be accomplished within the shop unless a track is blocked from use for passage. I could only understand this configuration if it’s just a garage facility to keep most cars out of the weather during snowstorms. Lacking a trackage diagram, the two photos are really quite uninformative and certainly puzzling.
The conceptual drawings show the building having 2 tracks entering the west end, one along each wall, with the center open. There are switches on each track about halfway to the center allowing a 3rd track outdoors. I guess they think that gives them a runaround of sorts. It would have made more sense to have the storage area at the road and service building to the east. Probably not much you can do when city planning gets involved.