Traindiesel posted:As with any suggestions of change, remember that those who organize and operate the York Meet are volunteers who donate their time to produce a great toy train event. They are not paid to do this. Anyone want to devote some time to advertise, set up a train ride for kids, organize outside groups to attend, etc.? The members could care less, they just want a venue to buy, trade and sell their trains. It wasn't created to entertain the masses or vendors or importers. It's not meant to get more people involved with trains. The Worlds Greatest Hobby Shows does that. The York Meet is the result of what the WGH shows do.
Speaking as someone who has been a volunteer in setting up and producing a train show (not on the scale of York, if course), I think this paragraph is perhaps the most important one in the whole discussion.
As long as the ED members work this way and feel this way, York will not become all the things that everyone else wants it to be.
I am NOT being critical: I applaud. Until we have the proverbial skin in the game--and travelling to York as a buyer or even as a manufacturer does not qualify--we have no say in how they do it. If York reverted to its beginnings, the ED folks might well be much happier. It is, after all, their playground, not ours.
