Remembering Steve Hoskins

I found out that Steve Hoskins passed away on June 25, 2005 at the age of 54. I only met Steve once back in 1971, on my first trip to the west coast. In his days in Long Island, he befriended a fellow who later went to college with me. When I made my trip, I had Steve's number and contacted him when I reached LA. He was a great guide through that city's railfan sites and most of the behind the scenes shots on these two pages were taken with Steve at my side:

Los Angeles - Southern Pacific &
Los Angeles - Union Pacific

Later, as I joined the internet community, developed the JoeKorNer and got hooked on BAHN, I found that Steve was already there and I used his IND layout to build my INDNOT layout. Over the next years he and I corresponded via e-mail and the nyc.transit news group.
As recently as late May of 2005, I came across a BAHN layout that Tyrone Banks asked me to post with my layouts. When I saw that the original work was from Steve, I tried to contact him to see if it was OK to post. that was on June 17.The e-mails I sent to Steve were returned as undeliverable.
Much of his railroadiana collection has been donated to The San Diego Model Railroad Museum.