I did not 'attend' the convention....but did chase one day. I lived in Charlotte at the time and could not get off work as I took time off for the Charlotte trip.
I used to climb on 611 & 1218 at the old VMT down on the river.....before the 1985 flood that trigger the move. Seeing those locos sitting static display to running I thought (hoped?) we were going to see more and more of it. I did not see the litigation, greed and other issues that have brought us to where we are today. I was to optimistic.