Carol and I had a great day as well. Arrived shortly after noon and was able to find a space adjacent to the old White Hall (not in use for this York). The weather was absolutely beautiful - "September shirtsleeves weather", with the high temp in the upper 70s (will be about ten degrees cooler today). Our first time back since 2014.
Wasn't looking for anything in particular (we've just finished tearing down our layout and transporting it in pieces to our retirement home. We found that we had a lot more engines, rolling stock and accessories than we remembered), so had a chance to do a leisurely observe and enjoy.
- Black Hall - had a nice S gauge modular layout with new and old American Flyer running...only member layout we saw running.
- Purple Hall - was happy to see some old friends (e.g. Just Trains from Delaware) present and selling. A lot of folks greeting one another with smiles and laughter (common across all the halls). Hall was busy but not crowded.
- Blue and Silver Halls - we spent most of our time there on Thursday. Looked like ~15% of tables were empty early in the afternoon (this number shrank as members arrived and set up). Aisles were wider. Again, halls were busy, but not crowded (except in spots, like the big engines sellers next to where the admission lines ended). Was interested to see the prices on Postwar Lionel transformers ($100 -115 for ZWs; $80-90 for KWs). Made our only purchase here (a Postwar Lionel NYC F3 B unit).
- Yellow Hall (hadn't been there since the "turn of the millennium"!) - wide variety of sellers - spent a lot of time looking at old paper / books in support of building our new layout.
- Orange Hall - peeked in but saved visiting it for today.
Agree with Rod...about 50/50 on mask usage. Miss the usual "eateries" (did stop for a snack between Blue and Silver). Saw Allen Miller cruising these halls - he's looking good. Will be back this morning to finish up in Red, White, and Orange Halls!
All the best, John
