Just got back from my 18th consecutive York. My first York was in 2002 and it was a rat race, literally a rat race. People were crashing into the halls and scurrying about trying to find that one piece they desired before someone else found it first. It almost took the fun out of it. Nevertheless, I enjoyed that first trip and all of the others since because I never saw so many trains in my entire life and I met some nice folks along the way.
Fast forward to 2019 and a lot of things have changed. TCA has probably lost about 30% of its all time high membership roster of about 30,000 and the biggest reason for that is simple as has already been posted-DEATH. The Model/toy community consists of a rapidly aging and dying population and when you lose 10,000 members it will put a crimp in the numbers that attend York. However, that being said, I'm seeing just about as many trains now at York as I did back in 2002 and that's what the main drawing card is supposed to be-TRAINS. When I returned home today I still spent several hundred dollars because if you look hard enough there are always things you need or desire and that's exactly what I did. What's more I hated to leave. I enjoy it now as much as I ever did.
When I read topics like this I just shake my head in amazement. Sometimes it almost appears as if some people get off on predicting the demise of the train hobby and in particular the York meets. York ain't dead and neither is the train hobby. All right, the aging process, death, internet sales have all had a negative impact on the numbers in attendance but so what. Like I said there are still thousands of trains there and there are still thousands of people attending from all over the country. I saw campers from as far away as Alaska, Montana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Kansas, Kentucky, Florida and Ontario. These people still come for a reason and that reason is because they love trains and enjoy being around people who enjoy trains. The problem is the more people who continually carp on the demise of the the York train meets it will definitely dampen the enthusiasm of those who do attend and in my opinion it probably already has.
My feeling is this- the heck with the constant naysayers, I'm going to keep the pedal to the metal for as long as I can and will savor every moment I spend at York that I can because there will come a day that I won't be able to. In my own way I will continue to highlight the positive benefits of the York meets and the relationships that I have forged there in the hopes that others will feel the same way and keep their pedal to the metal as well. Bottom line-people who say that they love the hobby, enjoy trains and train meets should spend more time touting the highlights of these meets rather than the lowlights.
