The Milwaukee trolleybus system closed on June 20, 1965. Marmon-Herrington 428 ended revenue service early that morning. Later that day, two charters, one with Pullman-Standard 388 and the other with Pullman-Standard 350, roamed the system. 350 was the final pull in.
The system reached its peak mileage in
1955 with the conversion of the National Avenue car line. The
system was halved at the end of 1962 when all the lines out of
Fond du Lac Station were motorized at once. I believe the 15,
out of both Oakland and Kinnickinnic Stations, was also motorized
in 1962. The remainder of the system was gradually motorized between
1963 and 1965. I am only old enough to remember Routes 14, 18,
19-37 and 20 in service, though some of the overhead for Routes
21 and 22
remained in place until 1964 or so.
There were stretches of feeder cable in place along Plankinton Avenue until 1969-70 for drawbridge service. Three of the former trolley coach storage facilities, which also date to streetcar days, are still in use by the Milwaukee County Transit system for motor coach storage.
Incidently, Milwaukeeans seldom called them trolley coaches or trolley buses. They were almost always called "trackless trolleys." :-)
Ken J.
