So has York made a good recovery

Not really from what I’ve been hearing.

Sorry to hear that.

Thanks for the reply.

Spent the entire day at the fairgrounds it didn't seem to have as many people walking the halls, but 99% of the parking spots were filled.  My guess is there was more TCA members selling than buying.  But I can definitively say there was a way bigger crown most of the time in the Blue and Silver halls than Orange.

Considering our recent past and current virus concerns for older citizens, the Eastern Division is still putting on a great toy train event. It "ain't" what it was, but still worth attending if you have the opportunity. I had fun  buying and selling today, will probably go back tomorrow.

From what I have seen of wider aisles, missing aisles, and empty tables, I would estimate this show to be about 60% in size of the last York show in October 2019.

I don't understand why they opened the yellow hall at all.  Those quasi tables/areas could easily been put in the orange hall.  They announced the Yellow hall several times as a dealer hall, but shut it down at 5pm with the member halls.

Personally I expected a glut of trains and/or buyers from pent up demand and reduced train shows.

But overall it looks like a normal York show but just much smaller.  No shuttle service, several RV hookups are permanently gone, and only the Blue and Orange halls have arrows.   And the PA announcements are down by 90% at least.  Also, no leaving the PA microphone on during conversations (which I kinda miss).  There was always such suspense at what unfiltered comments might leak out.

The hotel shows were smaller also.  Of course no Billy Budd, the Sherman fire hall was replaced by a show at Sheraton 4 points (overall smaller than fire hall).  The Wyndham had several tables inside empty and the outside area was a noticeably fewer vendors as well.

I would imagine that an April 2022 would definitely go back to a two day show.

Had a great day. I thought everything was fine. Some great deals out there. I personally love the yellow hall. Looks like it’s been redone. Very clean. Mask wearing appears to be 50/50. I’ll be back in the morning.

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

@Chemwiz posted:

99% of the parking spots were filled. 

You must have parked somewhere else than I did, because I would not say that.  There were a lot of vacant spaces between the blue/silver halls and the red hall where I have parked for years.  I would say that 50% to 60% of the spaces were filled in that area.  There were noticeably fewer campers in this area and significantly fewer cars in this area

@ptbarnm69 posted:

SO HAS YORK MADE A GOOD RECOVERY?

Recovery from what? We do not yet live in a post Covid world, and when some were considering making plans to attend a few short months ago, new variants were all over the place, mandates and recommendations of all kinds were flip-flopping and so on and so forth. Add in rumors of vendors who were not attending, socially distanced hall plans, and so on and you have a huge amount of uncertanty and concearns that have led a not so insiginifanct amount of people like me to ultimately decide to pass this one over. I'm glad that they are having the event for those who are attending, but to have any expectations of this being "normal" is foolish, as would be to take any statistics from this event and project from them as if they were normal.

I think it will be hard to judge with only 1 meet that is still happening within the midst of the current situation.

I was actually surprised and happy with the turnout Thursday. While not ground breaking it was decently attended.

Sure there were open spots, missing , vendors etc. but it was a good time. If it continues this way  I won’t be upset and write a diatribe about the decline of York. I’ll just go and have fun.

In the beginning of a post covid world it is going in the right direction forward,  I hope those missing are well and make it back to the train mecca in the future. Iam here having fun spending money being with folks I consider part of my larger family and that is what it's all about Are there empty tables yes but I would bet the spaces are paid for and will be reserved for the person and future Yorks. Enough said back to having fun life is too short!!

Great time yesterday, even with the changes. Like mentioned earlier, a better than expected crowd, fewer than expected vendors. Prayers out to those under-the-weather! Expect to see the manufacturers out "as usual" come Spring, as York is The Venue for displaying the new product.

Have a great York day folks!!

It’s all about expectations. If you expected attendance to be what it was 10 years ago and to spend the whole day in the orange hall, you’re going to be disappointed. But it was much better than I expected. Silver and Blue halls were packed full of attendees the first few hours. Member halls had some empty tables but better than expected. Orange hall had some major players missing so the hall itself didn’t feel as full with things spaced out.

Some great deals to be hand in the member halls. A ton of reasonably priced scale rolling stock. Blue, Silver, and Gold halls had some great deals on modern scale engines. Picked up a PS2 premier climax for $375 among other things

It looks a little bit more busier this morning in my opinion. More to follow. Announced that 9000 are signed up.

My daughter and I had a great time.  Took over 4 hours to cruise the halls and ended up buying 6 pieces of rolling stock.  I'm more selective these days so I have no complaints.  Prices were good, and I thought attendance was fair.  I wish the best for the sellers and hopefully they will do well.

Maybe they opened the yellow hall to space out the show due to covid?

This is going to be a long process.  Many dealers didn't attend due to what ever reason.  Hopefully for future meets that will change.  We are still in the middle of this Covid thing.  Hopefully by next Oct things will be much improved.

Announced this morning that attendance had broken 9,000

@aussteve posted:

Announced this morning that attendance had broken 9,000

What does the EDTCA get for attendance at a “normal” autumn York expo?

So, just to clarify, the 9k figure is registrations, right?