I don't have the long term perspective on York, since last October was my first, but I thought this York was well attended. The April meet was smaller I am pretty sure, there were a lot more open tables in April than this meet. I arrived Thursday at around 12:30 (Pennsylvania traffic is not always so sunny...), and the lot was pretty full. Silver and Blue were full, white and red were about the same as April (and prob october as well). Crowd wise it looked like a good crowd, and to be honest having heard what York was like in the past, I am going to commit heresy and say I kind of liked that the aisles were bigger and you could walk and look without getting pushed or shoved (I have been to very crowded shows, it isn't pleasant for me).
Like many on here, a lot of it for me is talking to people, got to talk to people with a lot of shared things, like Allan who I sat with at Quaker Steak for a second year and found out our dads were both born the same year, both fought in Europe in the 3rd army, had a great night chewing the fat (not literally!). Same at the meet, you never know who you will strike up a conversation with.
I have to say the collaboration between the capitol city trackers and the river rail guys from Virginia was spectacular! The bridge is the centerpiece of the layout, I really got a chance to look at it closely and it is impressive (just seeing that layout made the cost of admission worth it).
Like others, I did notice more than a few younger people there, compared to prior meets, and that is a good sign.
I didn't think the RV area was all that different, and actually I think it was more full than April for sure, not sure about October.
In terms of what was there, as others have pointed out a lot of it is dedicated to post war/conventional as it has been in the past (and traditional S, etc). In some ways what is offered mirrors what I see at places like Greenberg and First Frost and the like, it is basically a ton of common stuff, some sold at runner prices, others with price tags, well, I won't go there. There is slowly more and more 'modern' equipment showing up in the member halls, which I think is a good thing, because post war is eventually going to be much less of an emphasis as time goes on I suspect. Price wise most people were willing to talk, the ones who weren't quite honestly were people who I realized had bought up lots, probably from estate sales, and didn't know what they were selling. I was looking at a railking ps 2.0 engine (likely 5 volt), and I made an offer that was reasonable for that engine (somewhere in the 200-250 range), and the guy was like 'I have 400 in it,it is worth a lot more than that'. Obviously I walked away, and got the same engine, in more mint shape, for 240 bucks .....
The dealer hall was nice, it looked about the same size as the last 2 to me. Lionel not being there was unfortunate, but for me personally it didn't change my experience much. Dealers like member halls were kind of all over the place, some of the prices at the dealers were nothing special (though they would take offers), and they seemed busy. One thing that was kind of funny, my nearest LHS was there (first time I have seen them there), and basically what they had was tables of what is normally under the table stuff (ie body shells, trucks, accessories that def need tlc, etc). Not sure how that justified them going to York, but hey, what the heck.
One thing to keep in mind is that people like myself, who don't have a long history (and as time goes on, will make up more and more of the York attendees) don't have the perspective long time people have, we weren't there when it was crowded and there were so many more vendors, etc, and among the people I met/talked to who hadn't been there all that long, most really enjoyed it.
If manufacturers aren't attending I don't think it is because people go to York to socialize, I think they aren't going because they feel like these days, with the internet and the nature of the business (being BTO), they don't get as much benefit out of it unlike years past.
I actually was a lot more concerned with the April show than this one. The other thing is right now we are in a time when Covid is not totally over, that may have kept some away, and the added cost of travel and living at the moment may have kept people from attending, so it could be future shows will be better.
My guess is that the show over time will become smaller, likely they will consolidate some of the halls. I can only hope that purple hall, now where the layouts reside, we can get even more folks with layouts to come, among other things those layouts are the gateway to new people getting excited about the hobby (good question, was purple open to the general public? If not, it def should be). I have had fun at all three Yorks, and I plan on going to as many as possible in the future.
