The Kenosha Birney streetcar system was converted directly to trolleybuses in 1932. This conversion was probably the only direct conversion of an entire system. The system, owned by Wisconsin Gas and Electric Company, was the only system in the US to be 100% trolleys. There were three downtown routes and one crosstown route. About the time World War 2 started, the crosstown line, the Orange line, was converted to buses. The line was the weakest, and the trolleys on this line were probably needed for more frequent war-time service. The most interesting thing about the crosstown line is that there was no special work connect it to the other lines, though it crossed all three of them. The operators or someone must have switched the poles to the other lines to get to the garage. Little wonder this line was sacrificed.

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This page last updated 23 AP 2007