It is nice to see some interest in my father, Bill Hoffmann! He was one of the founders of the East Bay Model Engineer's Society, as I understood it. He did live in San Francisco where he built the Sacramento Northern and Key System cars. I do believe he did build the entire roster of the SN, although he would occasionally scrap a car. They indeed got their power through the trolley pole and track. I own that collection, as well as the British Columbia Electric, Oregon Electric and a few cars from a variety of systems. My brother owns the roster of Pacific Electric cars he built when we lived in La Habra Heights (not Whittier). He continued to build cars blind and with only three right hand fingers while he lived in Orinda, CA, where he died in 2003. I just wrote a post on today's Hello Everyone post about his final days of train building. I am currently looking for a home for his collection. He sold several cars in the 1970's for $600 plus dollars to establish insurance value, but otherwise my brother and I own nearly every car he built. 14 of his Pullman cars were solicited by the California State Railway Museum. I am talking to the Smithsonian Museum about taking the SN. The cars need a new home and I am open to suggestions.
Laurel-Rose Von Hoffmann-Curzi
