Big E is useful to an O-Gauger IF you've completed a layout to the point where you only really need scenery materials. Otherwise the overwhelming majority of locomotives and rolling stock is HO or N. <snip>
York inverts this in favor of the O-Gauger (you can find scenery stuff and HO, but it's mostly confined to one side of one hall).
---PCJ
I think this hits the nail on the head. I go to York to buy locomotives, rolling stock, and accessories (and to see toy train friends). I go to the Big E to look at others' modeling, scenery, and operation techniques and to get design ideas for my own layout.
That said, there are certainly scenery items at York and certainly O Scale equipment at Big E, but the proportions are significantly tilted in the directions noted by PCJ.
Both shows are definitely worth going to. I would say to the original poster: If you like Big E, you'll love York.
Steven J. Serenska
