I took this photo inside the "New" trolley bus garage building, on an August 2006 visit to the Illinois Railway Museum located in Union Illinois.There was a special occasion going on that day at the museum entitled "A day out with Thomas", wich featured a traveling full sized Thomas the Tank Engine replica. The foreground space in the photo was being utilized for a portable O Scale modular model railroad, wich various O Scale model trains and accesories were demonstrated.
In the background can be seen, a 1951 Marmon Herrington electric trolley bus from the Chicago Transit Authority. These buses mainly operated on Chicago's northside on converted / modified former Chicago Surface Lines electric streetcar routes. They were the last electric powered trolley buses ordered new for CTA, and were in service from 1951 to the end of electric trolley bus service in the year of 1973. I witnessed and rode these buses as a kid during their final years of service on Chicago city streets. I lived near the Route # 52 Kedzie / California Avenue line.
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I also lived within walking distance of the Kedzie-California Line most of my young years, and rode those Marmons back-and-forth from Palmer Street to Roscoe at Gordon Tecjh high. Best memory I have (beside yanking the pole off the wire!) was about '74, I think, when they were tearing down the trolley wire. I told the guy I'd lived there since the streetcar days, he gave me a 1' chunk of that wire for a souvenier. Wish I still had it! Gary
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