> . . . "Howard T. Wolfe", retired transmission engineer for Pacific Bell. Lovingly referred to by all as "Uncle Howie" ...

I hope you're being a little sarcastic here, because it you aren't I'll start declassifying a lot of info which you might not like to have aired here. I don't believe it's proper to post names in discussion groups like this, no matter what I think of the individual, unless said individual is safely dead, like Jim Jones, Adolph Hitler, and so on..

>Howard was always purchasing and storing rail cars, parts and misc bric-a-brac. His home in Richmond,CA resembles a WALMART for "traction parts"..

The only cars HTW purchased himself were the 1215 and 1218. A significant number of the parts in that basement were actually property of BAERA, but then again I haven't been in it since about 1969, when the 1201's headlights were there (Mosher arc, converted to incandescent)

>When the Key System abandoned service in 1958, two Bridge Units were saved as well as a Lehigh-type streetcar # 271. KEY Unit 186 was donated by the Toll Bridge Authority to BAERA. KEY Unit 182 was donated to the "Key Route Railway Association".

All preserved Key units were owned by the Calif Toll Bridge Authority (now Caltrans), and all the Key owned ones were scrapped (out by the present Coliseum station). The lead guy in the Key Route Association arranged some sort of legislation in Sac to donate the units upon payment of a $10 paperwork fee. They weren't available to individuals, just clubs. There were something like 6 units saved, the 182 (Key Rout Assn), the 186 (BAERA), 187 (R&LHS), 167 (OET), one which went to an Oregon group, and one which went to a Reno group. The 167 is still at OET (now OERM), the 182 and 186 wound up at RVJ with title to the 182 transferred to BAERA a few years afterwards, and the other two broken up for parts, with OET getting the Reno parts. The 187 was given to BAERA about 30 years ago when the State turned it down. It was moved in two sections by flatbed truck from Sharp Army Depot to RVJ.

>Various individual pieces of KEY "Work Equipment" and "Maintenance of Way Equipment" was either donated to BAERA or purchased outright by "Uncle Howie"..

Howard Bebe, the Keys' purchasing agent, wouldn't sell BAERA the 1011 unless they took the 1201 as part of the package. I don't recall the details of the 1001, but HTW wasn't involved with ownership. About 10 years ago, the Young Turks at BAERA forced HTW to donate the 1215 and 1218 to BAERA.

>Can the trucks from #974 be used on #978? It would seem appropriate, using parts from a car that didn?t make it, to help restore a car that survives, especially sister cars from the same company.

Why is there any obligation on BAERA's part to give/donate/rent/lease these trucks to the MRSy Assn? BAERA had the foresight to save this stuff when it was available, all others pay cash (to Japan). On the other hand, last time I looked, all the hardware from the 974, the bolsters, the platform knees, the steel end sills with anti-climbers (drawbar pockets) and what not were still there. Same with the 53's hardware, but no telling what the current new-wave administration has done with it. The Stockton Electric 78M Birney truck with the cast iron wheels with SERY cast into them seems to have dissappeared.

>Cheers to all and especially to the good Doctor..

Easy on the caps key; in netiquette it's like shouting, unless it's an abbreviation like BAERA.