Hi All,
Peter, thanks for posting this image of the Forum get-together back in its early days (it may have been the first one), when it was still in the grandstand over the old Yellow Hall. (That's me, second from left in the third row up from the front [I still had some brown hair then].) How young we all look! Nice to see Barbara Saslo and Fred Dole in the photo, too. The Forum was a much more intimate group back then. I'm Forum member no. 76 and there were probably only a few hundred members in those early days. Wow, has it grown!
George, your remembrance of the announcement about Bob Grubba's "ethics in manufacturing seminar" made me laugh anew about that. Anyone at the meet being able to request a PA announcement led to some pretty silly things being broadcast throughout the fairgrounds over the years, but that had to be among the best. And much as much I miss some of that, it's a much more serene York Meet now without them (the nagging about following the floor arrows is probably the worst of today's "official" announcements--and people still walk the wrong way in the halls anyway).
Seeing Neil Young playing with Lionel trains in their white tent outside the east entrance to the Yellow Hall was a treat.
That eerie orange tint on all of MTH's stuff due to the sun shining through their orange tent was a bit weird. I bet they were glad to see that tent go.
I remember Mike Wolf sitting on his stool in the Yellow Hall repeatedly launching a flying disc from one of his new-at-the-time helicopter launching cars; sometimes they'd make it up to the underside of the grandstand, which he really got a charge out of. He was like a little kid playing with his new toy on Christmas morning.
The bandit meets really were pretty fantastic back in the '80s and '90s. I can still remember many of the items I bought out in the parking lots of the various hotels, including the Billy Budd, the Best Western and the Holidome. I guess the Holidome (I never remember what it's called now) is the last O gauge meet left. The Flyer folks, I think, still have theirs over at the West York Reliance firehouse.
My first York Meet was either Fall 1985 or Spring 1986--I was a guest at my first one and I have a 1986 TCA number--and I've been to most York meets since then. My wife, Kathie, and I usually make it part of a long weekend getaway and I remember our daughter as a baby in a stroller being at York; she'll be 29 next month. In years when the ladies couldn't make it, I took the bus down from Long Island or drove down myself a few times. Even did it in one day once, though I'd never do that again!
And though much has changed at York, it's still a fantastic experience and one I look forward to each spring and fall. Though at first I wasn't sure how adding the half-day on Thursday would be, I've come to enjoy the extra time to browse, so I'll miss it as the meet goes back to only Friday and Saturdays.
Keep the York Meet memories flowing.
Chris
