How was York?

For my son Matthias and I it was nothing short of outstanding. If you have never been, and you’re on this forum it is a must see event.  We arrived last weekend and took in local sights including B and O museum, Fort McHenry and a layout tour of Mr Don Keiser’s fabulous layout. Hit all the bandit meets multiple times (if you miss those, you are truly missing out). Continued with Strasburg, TCA museum, Pennsylvania museum and topped off with the TCA organized train excursion on a Civil War era train along the same route Lincoln took to Gettysburg! Oh yes and then there was an event at the York Fairgrounds too!

Met lots of great folks at the OGR breakfast and at all of the above events. Thanks to all who said hi. So many people were kind and patient with my son and some were beyond generous. It has been a truly wonderful experience for us both and such a breath of positive fresh air.

Long live York! Thanks to the many volunteers who make it happen. To those of you lucky enough to drive here or attend more than once a year, you don’t know how truly lucky you are.

We leave with suitcases brimming with trains, Matchbox cars and a huge smile on our faces. Happy trails…….until we meet again!

G and Matthias

Great TRAINCATION, (Coined by MARTY E.) GERHARDT.  Hope you made reservations for next year.

I had a fantastic time.  Visited Gravity Hill and the ruins of a WWII POW camp in Michaux State Forest on the way out on Tuesday.  Hit all the bandits on Wednesday (and found some treasures), and went to Nicholas Smith and another train store in the afternoon.

The meet itself seemed a lot busier and better attended than April, IMHO.  I also noticed that there were fewer RV's, but that alone doesn't say anything other than that there were fewer campers.  I sold a lot of stuff at my tables in Blue Hall and probably had the best Saturday of sales in a long time.  And I even managed to find a bunch of things to take home for myself, including my badge for April 2023.

And above all, I had a great time with great friends.  Yeah, York has changed a lot since I started going, but it is still a lot of fun to me, and I will keep going until it isn't or I physically can't.

Andy

@Lyinel posted:

Trying understand the posts about major manufacturers not attending.  
MTH and Atlas were in the orange hall.
Smaller manufacturers like Ross etc were also there.  
The only missing manufacturer was Lionel.

While MTH was there they really didn’t have much of anything to see, but for me it goes beyond just one or two large suppliers, many secondary suppliers like scenic express, Miller engineering with their unique signs, TW train works, Dennis Brennan with his ballast and unique structures, aa precision bridges and turntables bridge boss, arista figures, crescent locomotive works, bridge boss …..

while there were plenty of older trains to buy in many of the halls (some of which looked like they made more trips to York than half of the attendee) and a few great dealers with new trains, there was not much in the way of layout building supplies - something  that was a mainstay of the meet in the past.

York was great, the social media event was terrific.  Yes there is a tomorrow!!! Yes it is different. I agree some of the layout building dealers were not there but Scenic Express moved to Colorado and it's not cost effective for them to travel, many of the other layout support people are booked into late 2023, Ross who was there showed product took orders because Steve has plenty of work and is about 5 weeks behind. he was 12 before. As for trains rolling stock prices are tumbling it used to be in the 35 to 50 range for used stock now its 15 to 25 except for the sellers who wish to keep taking it home. I helped the York show economy and spent a few thousand and so one man buy 4 legacy cab forwards at 1499.00 at a dealer. It's still good folks! At the business meeting  Saturday registered attendance for the meet was just under 8000 with the public  That's approximate 43 percent of the TCA membership.  So in this world climate and changing demographic that is not bad. As for the vision line announcement let's have.a gray big boy in Dreyfuss paint scheme pulling NYC pacemaker or refrigerator cars. That's VIsion!!

A great time.

Huge show-and-tell at the SGMA meeting - a chance to talk with fellow standard gauge fanatics and saw several items from the Arno Baars auction.

Got to meet @Gerhardt and his son Matthias - nice folks, and I really admire the energy and passion that it takes to trek all the way from the Great White North to York.

Social media get-together was a nice new feature - very well attended.

A few of my observations...  At around 9:30 or 9:45 on Friday morning, the registration desk had a line out the door - haven't seen that in a long time.  In recent years, I've noticed that the parking lot tends to start thinning out around 1:30 on Friday; today, it was still pretty full at 3pm.  These are positive signs.  There were fewer sellers, but I attribute this to the aging demographic - time marches on.  Operator grade stuff continues to get more reasonable, although there are still some sellers who seem to enjoy hauling items back home.  Orange was pretty full - better than April.  Very few RVs, but with the cost of gas and the fee to park on the fairgrounds, I'm not surprised that people would opt for a hotel instead.

@Andy Hummell posted:

I had a fantastic time.  Visited Gravity Hill and the ruins of a WWII POW camp in Michaux State Forest on the way out on Tuesday.  Hit all the bandits on Wednesday (and found some treasures), and went to Nicholas Smith and another train store in the afternoon.

The meet itself seemed a lot busier and better attended than April, IMHO.  I also noticed that there were fewer RV's, but that alone doesn't say anything other than that there were fewer campers.  I sold a lot of stuff at my tables in Blue Hall and probably had the best Saturday of sales in a long time.  And I even managed to find a bunch of things to take home for myself, including my badge for April 2023.

And above all, I had a great time with great friends.  Yeah, York has changed a lot since I started going, but it is still a lot of fun to me, and I will keep going until it isn't or I physically can't.

Andy

Agree with your observations, and your last line nailed it!

Stopped by your booth to say hello, but you were out and about.

I got my badge too - now I HAVE to come in April.

@Keystone posted:

  IMHO, the comments that place social/meet old friends as their priority to go to the meet also strongly reinforces the current non-attendance position of the larger dealers and remaining manufacturers/importers. 

This is 100% true not only for dealers, but also many members. I believe a lot of members justify their long journeys to York (and associated expenses) by being able to sell enough stuff to recapture some of the costs.

A buddy of mine and I made our biannual trip and we both thought it was of the best Yorks (in a while).  Saw a couple "getting out of the hobby" sales where items were priced to move.  If you wanted a PW Turbine, you could find several priced quite reasonably.  There was a Hudson set (6-38041 was the engine, I think) in the Red Hall that was a great buy at $575.  Saw that on Thursday but not Friday morning.  I hope someone here got it!  My friend was able to pick up a service station set from Trainz and was able to complete one with cars that he bought over the 2 days.

Spoke to MartyE a bit while he updated our Cab2s.  Thanks again, Marty.

I thought it seemed more crowded than April.  All in all, I had a great time.  I only have an hour to travel.  A bad York, for me, still beats two days of working in the office.  Can't wait for April.

@Rich883 posted:

While MTH was there they really didn’t have much of anything to see, but for me it goes beyond just one or two large suppliers, many secondary suppliers like scenic express, Miller engineering with their unique signs, TW train works, Dennis Brennan with his ballast and unique structures, aa precision bridges and turntables bridge boss, arista figures, crescent locomotive works, bridge boss …..

while there were plenty of older trains to buy in many of the halls (some of which looked like they made more trips to York than half of the attendee) and a few great dealers with new trains, there was not much in the way of layout building supplies - something  that was a mainstay of the meet in the past.

Rich

So much of York (for me and others) has been catching up with people and meeting new ones. Most of it is the comaraderie, seeing trains and buying trains: but, the other big part is sharing information, espcially for those of us who are layout builders and modular group members....

You are a MASTER at layout building and scenery.  When you come back to York, we would love for you to join us at one of our many breakfasts/dinners, etc.....we would love to pick your brain or your techniques and layout building philosophy.

Peter

@Rider Sandman posted:

This is 100% true not only for dealers, but also many members. I believe a lot of members justify their long journeys to York (and associated expenses) by being able to sell enough stuff to recapture some of the costs.

I think it is more common that those of us who are there for the comaraderie are also there "stimulating the economy". Those it is a social event and fun time to see my friends, I also fill my SUV to the brim.......

Peter

@Gerhardt posted:

For my son Matthias and I it was nothing short of outstanding. If you have never been, and you’re on this forum it is a must see event.  We arrived last weekend and took in local sights including B and O museum, Fort McHenry and a layout tour of Mr Don Keiser’s fabulous layout. Hit all the bandit meets multiple times (if you miss those, you are truly missing out). Continued with Strasburg, TCA museum, Pennsylvania museum and topped off with the TCA organized train excursion on a Civil War era train along the same route Lincoln took to Gettysburg! Oh yes and then there was an event at the York Fairgrounds too!

Met lots of great folks at the OGR breakfast and at all of the above events. Thanks to all who said hi. So many people were kind and patient with my son and some were beyond generous. It has been a truly wonderful experience for us both and such a breath of positive fresh air.

Long live York! Thanks to the many volunteers who make it happen. To those of you lucky enough to drive here or attend more than once a year, you don’t know how truly lucky you are.

We leave with suitcases brimming with trains, Matchbox cars and a huge smile on our faces. Happy trails…….until we meet again!

G and Matthias

Enjoyed meeting you guys.....hope to see you, again!

Peter

@NYC Fan posted:

I wish Lionel and the Eastern Division would come to a mutually beneficial agreement for the sake of their customers and membership respectively.

The ED leadership is working on it Skip.........needless to say:

Its complicated!

Peter

@Putnam Division posted:

Rich

So much of York (for me and others) has been catching up with people and meeting new ones. Most of it is the comaraderie, seeing trains and buying trains: but, the other big part is sharing information, espcially for those of us who are layout builders and modular group members....

You are a MASTER at layout building and scenery.  When you come back to York, we would love for you to join us at one of our many breakfasts/dinners, etc.....we would love to pick your brain or your techniques and layout building philosophy.

Peter

Thanks Peter, first it was great to see you and speak for a bit, I drove over early Thursday so missed your breakfast this year would love to join.  Always happy to share, I own much of my approach to many here on the forum and some great guys in Cincinnati like Bill Bramlage who have been gracious to share.

For sure with me it is also a social trip, and for clarity I had a great time and got to spend time with some good friends.  I wasn’t trying to be negative, just that for me much of the York shopping experience has been finding unique small second level makers of things for a layout vs looking for an engine or rolling stock.  

a lot of things can be found on line and I do that a bunch but nothing beats seeing in person and buying it.

York like all things evolves but is still the premier meet in O scale

Had a great time at York...actually we always do. For past few years only went on Thursday...but realized not enough time. Last York went on Friday but saw it all and gone by 1pm. This time Friday arrival at 8.30am, opening ceremony at 9am and started to trek through the halls. Visited all except White and Red...already too tired from walking...never got to see the inter-hall bus anyplace. Finally called it a day at about 4pm.

A better social train event cannot be found anywhere. Purple Hall train layouts were great. Sorry no pictures because arms full of train stuff.

Dinner at East Earl, PA - Lancaster area - Shady Maple Farms...great food with all you can eat and we surely did...at least 4 trips to the food bars!

Got home at around 10pm.

Need to say thanks to all at TCA-ED for a fun time. Also to all the guys in the car..Bill, Mark and Andy. Taking a short break in Steve C's camper and spending some time with Rick and OHO Bob too. Going home and listening to a day's recount of adventures and a long phone call with missing HO Bob who just got out of hospital Friday and couldn't make the trip with us.

Can't wait for April.

Walter

@Putnam Division posted:

The ED leadership is working on it Skip.........needless to say:

Its complicated!

Peter

Peter, are you at liberty to share any details about the issue?  I’m genuinely curious as to what the disagreement is.   Like others, I always enjoyed Lionel’s presence at York and would love to see them return.

@Rider Sandman posted:

Peter, are you at liberty to share any details about the issue?  I’m genuinely curious as to what the disagreement is.   Like others, I always enjoyed Lionel’s presence at York and would love to see them return.

Other than what was said at the ED business meeting, no.......and, what was said will be in the minutes.

.......an issue like this is highly charged and I do not want to take the chance of being misquoted.......and, I have no idea what is going on behind the scenes.....

Leave it at the ED leadership undestands the importance of Lionel to the membership and they will work on it.

Peter

This was my first York meet in about 18 years and was prompted mostly to meet-up via pre-arranged plans with Rich Battista and George P., two craftsmen of our hobby, to buy some of their wares.

Rich has taken down his Black Diamond RR and is going 2-rail O-scale. The Black Diamond RR was a work of art, IMO, and Rich produced some awesome DVDs and fortunately his passion for the art of 3-rail O-scale has been captured in multiple magazines, and as I recall Scaletrax and other catalogs. It's a shame we collectively cannot preserve these kinds of layouts for posterity in some museum, kind of like what the TCA Museum accomplishes, though we would need a much larger building for such an endeavor

Like it was in 2004, York this time was overwhelming for me, and I was exhausted after only 1.5 hours in the Orange Hall, though this is also a function of working hard the previous few days at my job, and not getting adequate rest. I also had a splinter in my left foot that was giving me a challenge

What I appreciated most was the vendors who took care and pride in their respective areas and merchandise, Grzyboski's and Just Trains stand out, but there others. I especially like the niche industry folks who sell neat and interesting stuff, e.g., Altoona Model Works, Todd's Architectural Works, and East Coast Enterprises come to mind, but there were many others.

After it was all said and done, my budget had been depleted before I even drove into the fairgrounds by my pre-arranged buys from Rich and George; though I managed to dig deep in the old wallet to buy a Korber building and another smokestack from Altoona Model Works.

I think I saw Howard Zane in the Orange Hall. Howard is a titan and another artist, though in the HO segment, having expanded his basement at least 2 times! I should've introduced myself, though he seemed engaged with others, and at that point my dogs were barking and I had to disembark.

@Putnam Division posted:

The ED leadership is working on it Skip.........needless to say:

Its complicated!

Peter

The ED does a great job.

AND, to be honest, I don't miss Lionel not being there at all. I prefer to see dealers in the space they had, like this year.

In a word: wonderful.

Great commraderie, bought a few things during the treasure hunt and loved the  layouts in the Purple Hall.

Here is a video of trains crossing the huge bridge on the enormous modular layout that Peter (Putnam Division) helped put together:

Arnold

I am glad to hear that you all had a great time whatever has filled you with joy. I know my York visits usually consist of stopping at Strasburg for the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, taking pictures of Strasburg steam, popping in the Toy Train Museum if time allows. Heading into Work trying to see everything and everyone possible, jab my jaw with anyone that will talk including vendors, and various other people. I find one of the best things is when I stop at one of the trucks or pop on a bench to take a breather and talk with whomever is sitting down.

When I leave York, I'm never sad with leaving, more filled to the brim like Scrooge after he realizes what he has missed all those years. I always stop back in Strasburg to make a pit stop and pop into the gift shop. Last year I hit the Railroad Museum of PA's gift shop and picked up a new mug as well as a few books. I'll have to pop into Strasburg next time around as I need more glasses to drink out of.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

In a word: wonderful.

Great commraderie, bought a few things during the treasure hunt and loved the  layouts in the Purple Hall.

Here is a video of trains crossing the huge bridge on the enormous modular layout that Peter (Putnam Division) helped put together:

Arnold

Arnold, what time did you wind up leaving home and arriving in York on Thursday?

It was terrific. While it was a little chilly in the early mornings of the Meet, overall the weather was perfect - partly cloudy skies and not a drop of rain. Started off by helping my buddies Rich, Stan and Geoff set up the East Coast Enterprises booth in the Orange Hall on Wednesday and attending the OGF breakfast at the Round-the-Clock diner on Thursday. There were long lines for the Orange Hall on both Thursday and Friday at the opening. Looking at the number of vehicles in the parking lot and the traffic in all of the halls on Thursday and Friday, it seemed clear to me that attendance was up from April. Can't comment regarding Saturday, as I had to return home early Saturday morning. It was great to see Atlas, MTH and TrainWorld with a presence at the Meet and the return of Vince's Trains.

Got a lot accomplished at the Meet. Picked up the MTH Premier NPR passenger set from the "Master" Jack Pearce that I had purchased from Clyde Lewis at Stockyard Express a while back that was detailed and lit by Jack. That's the 4th MTH Premier passenger set Jack has upgraded for me. He does amazing work. I also picked up some old new stock Lionel milk cars from Joe Grzyboski of Grzyboski Trains, and purchased a couple more of them from him at the Meet. I also picked up a couple of 6-packs of MTH Premier 2-bay hoppers from Steve and Jeff Nelson from Mr. Muffin's trains. I also placed an order for shelves from Glenn Snyder. They let me know that because of the supply chain issues, they will probably not be available until June. I also purchased a Weaver REA Trailer from Toy Train City, that I will park at one of the bays in my REA freight terminal on the layout. I also purchased from my TCA METCA Division both of their special run Atlas Master Line PRR tank cars and one of their special run MTH Premier flat cars with two Life Savers pup trailers. Finally, I also handed off to Joe Mania my Lionel Vision Line GG-1 for some repairs.

All in all, I would say it was one of the better York Meets I have attended is a number of years.

Pat

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

Arnold, what time did you wind up leaving home and arriving in York on Thursday?

Hi Dave, left home at 4:15 AM and arrived at Round the Clock Diner in York for the breakfast get-together around 8:30 AM.

Having been to over 60 meets, and probably not ever needing to buy any more big items, I cruise the halls to see all those things I never could have as a kid, and to chat with a variety of sellers.

Just a few observations. I keep an informal mental note of things for sale and how many. The list varies greatly over the years. I saw the following:

One scale GG1.  It was a Weaver, for $300, a great deal.  Usually see at least 20. (Sometimes I buy one, if the price is right.)

Probably over 100 ZW transformers, ranging from $65 to $200. Some years, maybe only a dozen were available.  I guess they are falling out of favor, with the new command systems and their proprietary power supplies.

One boxed K-Line passenger set, NIB, being carried out to a car.  Usually see many K-Line and Williams sets. Saw one other set on a table, priced way too high, IMHO.

No AMT/KMT/Kusan boxcars, and only 2 passenger cars, which are the focus of my collections.

Only one case of crop-dusting, but with magnificent, extended, sound effects.

These are not scientific data, just my way of watching trends over the decades.

The decrease in attendance was, to be honest, a nice change from the sardine-packed halls of previous years. Weather was gorgeous, and had a great time.

@Lionelski posted:

The ED does a great job.

AND, to be honest, I don't miss Lionel not being there at all. I prefer to see dealers in the space they had, like this year.

I am going to respectfully disagree.

The Eastern Division's abilities are on par with say, the NHL or Lionel management.  That is to say, they are a reference standard for "inept" and largely insulated from the consequences of their ineptitude by the strength of their brands.

Less in never more and the meet would be greatly strengthened by the return of major manufacturers.

George

EDTCA did another great job.

And since I am a "guest" from a different TCA division, being allowed to attend their local Eastern Division train show, I appreciate the opportunity.  If the power play was being made by an organization of impeccable quality, and cost effective products I might be disappointed by their absence.  In this case not so much. 

I see more relevant trains at one York show than 15 yrs of GATS. Greenberg,  small E, or whatever other shows.  That's why I manage vacation time, money, etc to attend this one show above all others.

Mike the data is in the attached pdf file.

I had a great time this week! Like April, I arrived late Tuesday night so I had all day Wednesday to set up. I tend to fastidious and nervous during set-up so the extra time allowed me to settle in and fully enjoy breakfast on Thursday morning. Opening came quickly at noon on Thursday and it was off to the races. All of my larger pieces were off the table by 3:00 PM and all pickups were also done. I chatted with existing and new customers alike and had no idea it was time when the closing announcement came. Friday was a little calmer through the day until about 4:30 when I finally caught a breather. Saturday in April was a goose egg for me. Saturday this October saw quite a few sales and some great conversations.

A couple takeaways:

1. New projects Franklin Freight & Storage, Downtown Building #1 and York's Laurel Rex Fire Station will proceed as planned and will be available for TCA York pickup in April 2023. If you are interested in a 5-window column version (fits two PS-1 box cars) of Franklin Freight & Storage I need to know by October 31, 2022. It is a large piece, 28" long by 16" tall.

2. Research will begin on B&O's Camden Yards building for design once orders and 1. above are cleared.

3. I will be adding more window and door kits to the website, starting with the windows from the Laurel Rex project. Several folks asked me for the windows for scratchbuilding projects, specifically breweries. I did a field check with the sample and will be adding some brick details that should help make the model really unique.

4. A run of the McElwain Factory Warehouse project will start after Election Day in November. ( I am a pollworker in NJ and will be doing both early voting and Election Day duty). I received several orders for varied shadowbox height and depth sets. This will be my only run of McElwain until after April 2023 York so reach out to me if you want to plan a set.

5. I had more requests for G Scale than S Scale. In fact I only had one conversation about S Scale and that was with a customer who has purchased all of my S Scale line.

6. Prior to opening:

Thank you to all that stopped by!!!

@G3750 posted:

I am going to respectfully disagree.

The Eastern Division's abilities are on par with say, the NHL or Lionel management.  That is to say, they are a reference standard for "inept" and largely insulated from the consequences of their ineptitude by the strength of their brands.

Less in never more and the meet would be greatly strengthened by the return of major manufacturers.

George

C'mon George.  That's not a valid comparison. The ED TCA  are all volunteers.  The NHL and Lionel are paid employees. 

As volunteers there's generally a lower limit for headaches.

-Greg

@Greg Houser posted:

C'mon George.  That's not a valid comparison. The ED TCA  are all volunteers.  The NHL and Lionel are paid employees.

As volunteers there's generally a lower limit for headaches.

-Greg

To be a bit more precise, I'm not unhappy with how the meet was run.  Quite the contrary.  I'm a bit miffed by the ED's decisions that caused Lionel to not come to the meet.  That's the issue for me.

George

This was my second York, (2019 #1)  I did not have a bad time at all!

I bought a lot of stuff and even on of my bucket list items.

I stuck to my list and admitted when I went off list.

All in all it felt light, but I did great!

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

In a word: wonderful.

Great commraderie, bought a few things during the treasure hunt and loved the  layouts in the Purple Hall.

Here is a video of trains crossing the huge bridge on the enormous modular layout that Peter (Putnam Division) helped put together:

Arnold

Arnold, you caught my EP-5 New Haven passenger train traversing the bridge........and, a Santa Fe 2-10-10-2 at the same time!!!!! How cool is that?

........and, a trememndous THANK YOU to the National Capital Trackers for bringing their HellGate Bridge!

Peter

My first York was 15 Oct 2004. I fondly remember the madness of "Loco Louie," the nearly continuous, obtrusive PA announcements, and the sweltering B Hall under the stadium seats. MTH was stacked five and six layers deep on multiple tables. And the crowds and parking...not for the faint of heart. I loved it!

So eighteen years later, as many have noted above, York has "changed." Some "good" and some "other." But I've changed also, from hair to knees.

But what I came for, information on what Atlas and MTH are offering, and checking out products at Mr Muffin, Just Trains, TrainX, J&W Electronics and others met my goals for the four hours I was there on Friday.

The smaller crowds and demand allowed me to talk to all the principals...and search multiple vendors for non-powered MTH units. (I run most of my trains with multiple units, and am always looking for NP units.)

In 2021 I was uncomfortable and concerned with what I viewed as the future of the hobby. My concerns were assuaged on Friday. I saw new product, catalogs and discussions of the future in a positive light.

And I want to add a strong "shoutout" to TrainWorld for their video presentations/interviews earlier in the week with MTH and Atlas. While TW was not at York, the time and effort to do those video sessions was very much appreciated.

I left at 1300 Friday and headed south to Mainline Hobby Supply, Blue Ridge Summit, PA. A first class, multi-scale blue ribbon train store in all aspects. I got all the Kadee O Scale couplers I needed and three C&NW Historical Society quarterlies. (I am a member of CNWHS, but they don't stock back issues.)

So York, discussions and sales with the principals and smaller vendors...and a final stop at Mainline Hobby Supply after a great drive through fall foliage up and down the Blue Ridge Mountains. Life was good.

@G3750 posted:

............  I'm a bit miffed by the ED's decisions that caused Lionel to not come to the meet.  That's the issue for me.  George

I may be wrong, but I don't think Lionel ever said that it was ED's decisions that caused Lionel not to come to this York - I think that that notion was speculation by a third party.

I think I recall Lionel saying that it was purely a financial decision and that, at that time, I responded that the goodwill of being at York has value that should have been also taken under consideration in their decision.

Has anyone heard ED's side here?

In any case, over my usual 4 or 5 days at York (2 days at the bandit meets, 2 or 3 days at the Fairgrounds), if I spent 10 days ay Lionel's display it was a lot. A look at my username will give you a hint as to which manufacturer I prefer too. So, maybe they made the right decision.

Goodwill was also had by them being at the TCA Museum, one would have thought that the crowd sitting and standing listening and watching them would have given them reason to think about being there.

@Lionelski posted:

.

.

I think I recall Lionel saying that it was purely a financial decision and that, at that time, I responded that the goodwill of being at York has value that should have been also taken under consideration in their decision.

Has anyone heard ED's side here?

Lionel publicly stated that they were not coming because of "difficulties working with the Eastern Division".  Finances were not mentioned.

And the Eastern Division put out some bland CYA verbiage on an e-mail blast from National.

I invite you to read between the lines.

George

@Todds Architectural Models posted:

1. New projects Franklin Freight & Storage, Downtown Building #1 and York's Laurel Rex Fire Station will proceed as planned and will be available for TCA York pickup in April 2023. If you are interested in a 5-window column version (fits two PS-1 box cars) of Franklin Freight & Storage I need to know by October 31, 2022. It is a large piece, 28" long by 16" tall.

Thank you to all that stopped by!!!

Doug;

Glad to hear you had a good meet - I will get back there one of these years!!! Two questions…

In the first picture above, what is the “unfinished” white tower in the front of the shadow boxes - looks interesting???

In the second picture, I believe that is Downtown Building #1 - if so, I’m definitely in for one that size (looks like it’s 6” deep???).

Funny. Everyone else seemed to be able to work with ED-TCA except for Lionel.  
It was a great show, well done by volunteers once more.  Can’t thank them enough.   They deserve a big thank you.  

I did note that MTH and Atlas were there.  Seems they didn’t have trouble working with ED-TCA.  Great to see them at York.

Maybe a lot of people are like me. getting older and not moving to well.

Hey Peter Allen, your pics made me feel better about the volume of stuff I brought home.  My minivan with seats down was about half full.

I just went for the day on Thursday. It was fine.

I thought it was busier than the spring. The Orange Hall lobby was pretty crowded at noon, but the hall itself never seemed to look busy. After grabbing a doorbuster deal before it disappeared and claiming a york pickup order from Trainz, I made it through all the other halls by about 230.  My interests are relatively limited by this point and not aligned with the piles of stuff on most tables, so I tend scoot through the hall looking at adjacent rows to see if anything looks interesting.  After I made it through all the halls, I went back to work on some deals.  Only got burned once on something that walked off without me, but its ok. I was on the fence with it, aside from the steal of a deal price. I've done enough "great price, gotta have it" buying already, don't need to keep doing it.  I thought the Silver and Blue halls were pretty busy, and a couple table holders I knew seemed to be having decent afternoons by that point.  If it was priced to move, it was moving. As usual, some of the prices seemed to be out there. There was at least one item that peaked my interest, but what I thought it was worth and the tag on it were just too far apart to even bother.

Got a loco from someone in the silver hall, went back and bought some 2R passenger cars in the orange hall, wandered a bit more and left the fairgrounds about 6.  Had dinner, drove the slightly over 2 hours home.

Normally I stay over until Friday, which allows for another pass through the halls with more of a fine tooth comb, but I'm not sure thats necessary anymore.  With the dealers contracting into the Orange Hall, and a number of booths being piles of "stuff", I think its become a manageable day trip if you can keep moving.

I'll give the spring a shot. Based on last spring, as a day trip. If the spring looks like this one, then maybe I'll try staying over next fall. If it looks like last spring, then I think the day trip will become the new way forward. Its still the only way to see that much O gauge/scale stuff in one place.

The missing face I miss the most is Jim Elster and the mountains of layout supplies that are no longer there.  I stopped in the atlas booth for a hot second, it was busy every time I walked by. The MTH P&S guys were helpful and in a good mood as well.