A Big thank you to ICTA members Tom & Heather Schwartz and Emerson & Rachel Zentz for hosting the Midwest Bus Museum’s  first annual open house.

About the Midwest Bus Museum: The Midwest Bus Museum was incorporated in January of 2020 with the purpose of preserving bus transportation history with an emphasis on North American school buses.

The show started off at the Bus Museum at 10:00 am and then migrated to The Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.  A long day of fun,  the Rail Museum closed at about midnight.

At the bus museum, visiting ICTA members were able to admire classic Checker Cabs, Transit buses and school buses.  A lunch was provided as well as complimentary bus rides.  The museum, showed their best equipment and encouraged all to take rides.

At the Illinois Rail Museum, ICTA members had free rein of the entire museum grounds.  We were all able to enjoy, steam and diesel passenger train rides,  trolley and electric train rides,  diesel transit bus  and trolley bus rides through out the evening. A dinner was provided at the Railway picnic grounds. The entire cost for the day was a reasonalble $15.00.

A total of about thirty people participated in the event.  Beyond the Schwartz and Zentz, other ICTA members included Ben Merkel, Joe Fay and Steve & Jennifer Fiorenzo and family.  Special credit goes to Al Shultz for making the Checkers shine!

Perhaps the best way to get a sense of the event is to check out the recently posted Youtube video.

We look forward for next years event and hopefully this writers Checker will make the full trip without a mechanical trouble.  Here’s a link to the failed trip…..darn transmission.

A big crew showed up for Sunday breakfast!  Tom Schwartz waving!

The kids, Jennifer Fiorenze, Heather Schwartz and Steve Fiorenzo

Emerson & Rachel Zentz

From the Checker Losers Club Joe Fay & Ben Merkel