Image: Dayton Christmas trolley bus in 1968

Description: In Dayton, Ohio, for several years the City Transit Company and successor MVRTA had an annual tradition of decorating one of its trolley buses with Santa Claus themes for the Christmas season, and operating it in service in the month leading up to Christmas, with Santa on board greeting area children. From 1968 (the first year) through 1972, the specific vehicle used was No. 561, an ex-Columbus trolley bus built in 1948 by Marmon-Herrington. (Later, No. 559 was used as the Christmas trolley, and it had a different paint scheme.) Among the decorations were a fake fireplace inside and a fake chimney on the roof of the trolley bus. In this 1968 photo, the Christmas Trolley is southbound on Main Street between 3rd and 4th Streets, bound for Stroop, on route 5. Following it is trolley bus 517, wearing standard City Transit livery, on route 7 to Ewalt Circle.
Title: Dayton Christmas trolley bus in 1968
Credit: 19681221 08 Main St. between 3rd & 4th Sts., Dayton, Ohio
Author: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes