As others have said, we don't really know what went on, my guess was just that. I wasn't at York in the "golden age", but things always change as time goes on. 30 years ago we were still in the frenzy of Lionel mania with Post War being the next beanie babies or whatnot ..... the show is always going to reflect the times. Three rail O gauge is in transition, and the show is going to be as well. I can't speak of the past, my first was fall of 2021, so I can't compare it to anything. There are things I liked that I missed in the last show I went to, and I let EDTCA know what I was thinking. We have people grumble that EDTCA opened the show to the public more, allowed easy guest access or that TCA opened membership up....yet if those things hadn't happened, how big would York be now? York is one of those benchmark events, but reading between the lines of what I see in TCA publications, and what I have heard from other TCA regions, is that putting on meets has become harder for all of them, it is just that York is so big and attracts people from all over we see it.
Everyone has their own standards for what attracts them to something like York, and I understand it. The people who loved seeing new products from Lionel and other vendors, or enjoyed the access to Lionel people at things like the legacy users meeting, are going to be disappointed, or people wanting to see the large dealers there and maybe find something at a better price than they could get online or whatever will be disappointed they didn't come. Like I said in another post, I enjoy it as an event and I try to take what I can out of it, even if it is a mini vacation. Have gotten to meet some neat people, share war stories of sorts, get to see trains I otherwise won't see and maybe find something interesting I can use. In the end whether I go or not (outside things beyond my control, like health, work, lack of money, etc) is if it is still enjoyable, and more importantly, at the end of the show I kind of ask myself "if the show decided to shut down after this, would I miss it?". And right now the answer is yes, I would. On the other hand to be honest, the Greenberg Shows are getting to the point where I will go if it comes around, but if it disappeared it likely wouldn't impact me that much; on the other hand First Frost/First Thaw would upset me if it disappeared.
