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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.

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.

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

Last edited by Seafarer
@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

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?

Yes it did.  There's a pandemic and 9,000 people registered and many showed up.  Remember, not everyone comes on all days.  If you think a show the size of York is not a good show you have unrealistic expectations.

As for yellow hall comments.  I'm tired of hearing or reading them.   The multitude of variables the ED TCA had to deal with for this meet were unlike any other and pandemic guidelines changed after the registration process started.  Plus the potential for last minute changes to those guidelines were ever present.   These VOLUNTEERS did a great job under the circumstances and I for one am very appreciative!  In fact, I made it a point to thank each volunteer as I entered or exited a hall and I never did that before (my bad).

-Greg

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

@superwarp1 posted:

13,000-15,000 if memory serves

Memory is not required - it's published info

October 2019 - 9,207

April 2019 - 8,459

October 2018 - 8,510

April 2018 - 10, 144

October 2017 - 10,185

April 2017 - 10,686

October 2016 - 10,924

April 2016 - 11,319

October 2015 - 12,073

April 2015 - 10,987

October 2014 - 12,355

April 2014 - 12,225

October 2013 - 13,523

April 2013 - 12,703

October 2012 - 13,713

April 2012 - 13,403

October 2011 - 13,608

-Greg

With people wearing badges from previous York meets that were not held, I'm not sure how they can get an accurate figure for either registrations or attendance.  The parking in front of the Orange Hall was almost completely filled, more than the meets for two years or so before the pandemic, it seemed to me.

I found some good deals, even late in the day today.  Examples: a Williams by Bachmann scale GG1 for $250, a WbB PRR NW2 switcher for $150 (both brand new from a dealer).  I also saw early (solid rail) Real Trax with good pricing.  I managed to buy a pair of AtlasO Solid Steel 072 switches, although another person had gotten there before me and bought out most of the Solid Steel track inventory.

All things considered, this meet was better than I expected it to be.

@Greg Houser posted:

Memory is not required - it's published info

October 2019 - 9,207

April 2019 - 8,459

October 2018 - 8,510

April 2018 - 10, 144

October 2017 - 10,185

April 2017 - 10,686

October 2016 - 10,924

April 2016 - 11,319

October 2015 - 12,073

April 2015 - 10,987

October 2014 - 12,355

April 2014 - 12,225

October 2013 - 13,523

April 2013 - 12,703

October 2012 - 13,713

April 2012 - 13,403

October 2011 - 13,608

-Greg

Steady decline. I wonder if 9,000 will be the new normal going forward.

Coming from someone who has never been to York before, I was extremely impressed right off the bat. And even though I agree that it was unfortunate we couldn't get all of the dealers to come, mainly because I was trying to acquire more modern scale equipment, I still think that York was a fantastic show, and I don't know if anything else I will go to in the future will beat it. There's no question that I will come back, although I don't know if I can do it twice a year, haha!

Maybe my opinion would be different if I had went to previous meets, but considering there's a lot of stuff out there I want, going to York isn't exactly finding a needle in a haystack; I saw plenty of things I wanted to get.

Two thumbs up here after spending the past two days roaming the aisles. I’ve found great prices on trains to operate which I bought, and passed on the higher prices for trains to display.

Most of what I bought was in Silver and Blue. Plenty of tables with signs urging you to make any reasonable offer, only one table with a sign saying prices are firm.

Yes, there are empty tables and spaces in halls, but that happens at most train shows. I wouldn’t make to much of it - the show happened/is happening and it was therapeutic to be a part of it. TCAED deserves a standing ovation for pulling this off.

I had a blast. Found some absolute bargains in multiple halls on Thursday, went back to the fairgrounds today, didnt spend too much more but did buy a few little things. I wasnt really looking for anything particular, but for some of the prices I saw, I wasnt going to leave things on the table either.  

The orange hall lobby was pretty full at the Thursday start, but it never seemed busy in the hall. The Blue and Silver Hall were jumpin' every time I went in there. My condolences to anyone who got stuck in the yellow hall, it was deader than dead in there.

It was a typical York for the group I go with. Lots of goofing off, pointing out things we "need" (its always better to spend someone else's money for them), and driving home with a pretty full trunk. I dont think I'll wear the Hawaiian shirt again though... they were meant to be funny, but way too much attention.

@MartyE posted:

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.

I would say that attendance was decent as well. Having this be only my 4th York, there is not much to compare it to at all in everyone else's yardstick or mile marker. I do think that yesterday and today had a good amount of people coming about every which way, though today there was most likely a bit more. How much, don't know. I do know that Tony in the Purple Hall had said that so far both days was busy for his sales straight through. Yesterday when I went through, I did get a moment to talk to him, but today early on he was so dang busy I let him be until I came back later around 2PM to chat a bit. I know that most of the passenger cars he had set up yesterday had been gone when I was there later today, so that is probably a good sign.

Some of the other things to consider is what you got as a bargain. Me being a person who can only judge by what others tell me, or by seeing prices at one table and another be different, I did manage to make a few good decisions on things. A few people had pretty high prices on a particular bunch of scale cars, and I went past two vendors and get the cheaper of the three prices. While this may not be extremely great type of deal, I consider what I picked out to be as such because of what I saved. I paid $10 less for what one car would have been if I bought at the slightly higher one, it would have been $40-$75 more at the high one. While I did not directly compare car to car prices, when you see everything range from $140-$180 for a car(that's one car), more than likely you will shop around. It was a good thing I remembered the vendor at the end of the hall who had the cheapest prices of the three, love that memory of mine.

I will have to see what else I find tomorrow for what time is left of York. I really have to take a wander around and see what else I want on my not list since I only had one item that hasn't showed up. See what comes, and hope to see you at some point in time Marty, whether it is tomorrow(if you're still here), or next October when I will be able to come again.

Answer: yes........a decent start as we emerge from the pandemic.......

Will it ever be the same be the same as it was in those large attendance years of 1995-2005? No, the demographics are against it. I joined TCA in 1983 and attended my 1st York as a 29 year-old that April. The York of the 80s changed in the 90s, and so on. Just like I never will be 50 again (I'm 68), I will enjoy York for what it is and I will adapt to its changes. I still had a blast. It was great catching up with old friends.......and, I met many new friends in person that I now have put a face with the name.....

Yes, I missed those who were not here (people, vendors and manufacturers) for whatever reason, including, unfortunately, death. However, I still managed to stimulate the economy, and I have filled my SUV with all sorts of  train stuff..........but for me, the true value of York is catching up with old friends, and, meeting new ones.....

AND........I want to thank the Eastern Division TCA for putting on a great show despite the issue surrounding us. Well done!!!

Peter

Last edited by Putnam Division

I’m sure there were the usual amount of postwar and prewar available. How was the availability of modern/new production trains? How about the presence of large dealers? What manufacturers were there? Any interesting updates from their displays? Somebody must have talked to them😉

Grybowski (sp) was the only big dealer.

There is actual some good reports here. I’m not sure what your looking for? The tinplate layout was definitely a highlight.

The one guy who had always brought tin plate stuff set up in the Purple Hall was not there this time around. He always had that wide variety of Commodore Vanderbilt's and such that always brought a smile to my face looking at them. In the member halls there was some of the usual folks I have seen before, some didn't make the trip though. I remember three guys in particular that would set up in the Blue and Silver Halls. Only one of the three was there.

There was a decent amount of K Line stuff, MTH, Lionel, whether it was early K Line, MTH, Lionel, pre-electronics, or right up to some high end, it was there. A few of the JLC Series engines, some decent pre-war, some Ives I did notice. One thing I thought was just out there was a flattened Boxcab Electric 248(?) in the Blue Hall. It looked as though it had been put in a vice and crushed on the top part. The seller had it out there sitting. I guess someone would buy it if they wanted to work on it.

I’m sure there were the usual amount of postwar and prewar available. How was the availability of modern/new production trains? How about the presence of large dealers? What manufacturers were there? Any interesting updates from their displays? Somebody must have talked to them😉

Maybe it was just me, but I felt like their wasn’t a lot of newer offerings compared to the flood of postwar stuff,….the bandits were overflowing with postwar and a lot of prewar….probably due to a lot of the big dogs staying home. Probably was the same amount of postwar as usual, but now it really overshadowed everything cause of the lack of the bigger vendors,…..I’d sum it up as it sure was postwar paradise for some of those guys, and that’s good,….I still had a great time, and managed to find a couple of goodies,….maybe with this big “ release of energy “ those certain sites will calm down now,…..we’ll see,….

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

Maybe it was just me, but I felt like their wasn’t a lot of newer offerings compared to the flood of postwar stuff,….the bandits were overflowing with postwar and a lot of prewar….probably due to a lot of the big dogs staying home. Probably was the same amount of postwar as usual, but now it really overshadowed everything cause of the lack of the bigger vendors,…..I’d sum it up as it sure was postwar paradise for some of those guys, and that’s good,….I still had a great time, and managed to find a couple of goodies,….maybe with this big “ release of energy “ those certain sites will calm down now,…..we’ll see,….

Pat

So it sounds like there was not a large presence of current manufacturers or larger dealers. I would find that disappointing since I am no longer purchasing postwar and I am now looking for new, scale 3-rail trains of the kind that has been manufactured in the last few years.  No updates or insights from train companies?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…. Somebody really smart wrote that.

That is my take on York, October, 2021. The best of times and the worst of times. I'm sure everyone will have their own opinion, but I have mine. It was great to be back and see friends I haven't seen for a couple of years. I'm a snowbird (winters in Florida) and the last train gathering I had before COVID was the OGR 50th birthday party at the NJ HiRailers, immediately following York, October. 2019. That was 2 years ago. The DCS dinner on Wednesday night was a wonderful last minute surprise. Thank you Dave Hikel for scheduling that and putting in the effort to make it happen. The meeting was very informative. That was my first time at the Eagles Nest and it was a nice place to have a meeting. Peter's breakfast on Thursday was much like they have always been. The Round the Clock dinner took good care of us and it was wonderful to see so many people who had always attended these breakfasts. The OGR Thursday night dinner at Quaker State was well attended. Once again we filled up the back room to overflowing. And were well taken care of.

It seemed to me that on Thursday and Friday there were lots of empty stalls where there used to be vendors. Even in the Orange Hall with it's new spread out layout.  Lots of big dealers were missing, like Charles Ro, Trainworld, Nicholas Smith, Mianne, Trainworx, Z Stuff and others. Or maybe I just missed them. The postwar 736 you saw in the white hall 6 years ago was still there. And the 2344 and the GG1, etc. Lots of postwar stuff. Two rows of tables were missing in the blue and silver halls. The aisles in those halls didn’t seem to be any wider, but the dealers had chairs behind the tables. And there were still empty stalls. The other member halls were a mixed bag. The yellow hall was a pleasant surprise. I recall when it was jam packed before there was an orange hall.

Why fewer vendors? Some combination of current economics, the internet, COVID and a changing business model. More and more built to order and special order items. Perhaps the time when you could come to York and compare prices on fairly new items has passed.

And there were the missing people. Lots of them. We know some of them passed and others were just too concerned to attend York. I spent time at York with a Physician who told me about a lot of the COVID deaths he witnessed and with a mortician who told me about the realities of burying and cremating people during COVID. Really depressing stuff. And there we were, a crowd with an average age above the norm generally without masks. I know I'm vaccinated and I hope others are too.

On a more positive note, the dealers I spoke to said they were having a great show. I'm glad for them. Two years of somewhat pent up demand should do that.

On the annoyance side, I drive out from NJ and came out Rte 30. I got to Strasbourg about 9:30 on Wednesday morning and decided to stop at the Museum. It was closed. Apparently it opens at noon. I don't know it's hours during the year (how many members go to the Museum the third week of January?), but it seems to me 8 hours a day during York week should be attainable. I'm sure someone (or many) will tell me why the Museum can't do that. No problem.

Bottom line -- thank you TCA and ED for coming back.

Gerry

@gmorlitz posted:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…. Somebody really smart wrote that.

That is my take on York, October, 2021. The best of times and the worst of times. I'm sure everyone will have their own opinion, but I have mine. It was great to be back and see friends I haven't seen for a couple of years. I'm a snowbird (winters in Florida) and the last train gathering I had before COVID was the OGR 50th birthday party at the NJ HiRailers, immediately following York, October. 2019. That was 2 years ago. The DCS dinner on Wednesday night was a wonderful last minute surprise. Thank you Dave Hikel for scheduling that and putting in the effort to make it happen. The meeting was very informative. That was my first time at the Eagles Nest and it was a nice place to have a meeting. Peter's breakfast on Thursday was much like they have always been. The Round the Clock dinner took good care of us and it was wonderful to see so many people who had always attended these breakfasts. The OGR Thursday night dinner at Quaker State was well attended. Once again we filled up the back room to overflowing. And were well taken care of.

It seemed to me that on Thursday and Friday there were lots of empty stalls where there used to be vendors. Even in the Orange Hall with it's new spread out layout.  Lots of big dealers were missing, like Charles Ro, Trainworld, Nicholas Smith, Mianne, Trainworx, Z Stuff and others. Or maybe I just missed them. The postwar 736 you saw in the white hall 6 years ago was still there. And the 2344 and the GG1, etc. Lots of postwar stuff. Two rows of tables were missing in the blue and silver halls. The aisles in those halls didn’t seem to be any wider, but the dealers had chairs behind the tables. And there were still empty stalls. The other member halls were a mixed bag. The yellow hall was a pleasant surprise. I recall when it was jam packed before there was an orange hall.

Why fewer vendors? Some combination of current economics, the internet, COVID and a changing business model. More and more built to order and special order items. Perhaps the time when you could come to York and compare prices on fairly new items has passed.

And there were the missing people. Lots of them. We know some of them passed and others were just too concerned to attend York. I spent time at York with a Physician who told me about a lot of the COVID deaths he witnessed and with a mortician who told me about the realities of burying and cremating people during COVID. Really depressing stuff. And there we were, a crowd with an average age above the norm generally without masks. I know I'm vaccinated and I hope others are too.

On a more positive note, the dealers I spoke to said they were having a great show. I'm glad for them. Two years of somewhat pent up demand should do that.

On the annoyance side, I drive out from NJ and came out Rte 30. I got to Strasbourg about 9:30 on Wednesday morning and decided to stop at the Museum. It was closed. Apparently it opens at noon. I don't know it's hours during the year (how many members go to the Museum the third week of January?), but it seems to me 8 hours a day during York week should be attainable. I'm sure someone (or many) will tell me why the Museum can't do that. No problem.

Bottom line -- thank you TCA and ED for coming back.

Gerry

Great report. Thank you

I went for the day yesterday and had a blast! This was my first York in 2.5 years (missed the last one for my honeymoon). Some additional observations:

-While there were less dealers, I noticed that there was more operating layouts than I've seen there before (at least 9, including dealers with trains running on small layouts). As the dealer halls are now open to the public, this is a HUGE benefit to the hobby!

- Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. I'm sure most people were able to support smaller sellers, and I heard lots of people just glad to be out. I also heard a lot of positives about the wider aisles in the halls (hint hint EDTCA)

-What surprised me the most was the amount of younger people that I saw. Being 31, this is always something that I watch as I don't want to be "The Last of the Mohicans" in this hobby. I say many people my age or younger (not including the young children that were here with parents).

If nothing more, York was a success for a sense of normalcy and for stimulating the next generation of the hobby.

Last edited by CarGuyZM10
@superwarp1 posted:

13,000-15,000 if memory serves

Your memory is failing you.  Per Clem's Primer, between April 2015 and October 2018 the registration has typically been in the 10,000 to 11,000 range, topping 11,000 only in October 2015 and April 2016.  The April 2019 registration was 8,779, the first time it dropped below 10,000 and the October 2019 registration was 9,207.

Not sure how they would be counting the registrations this time around, as my badge was for April 2020.  If they simply added the April 2020 and October 2021 registrations together, they are probably over counting the totals, as I would suspect that some who registered in April 2020 did not attend. 

It was good to get back to the show after two years and see friends and familiar faces. The absence of some of the big guns as respects manufacturers and vendors was disappointing. I have a pretty bad hip so in addition the lack of shuttle buses limited my access to some of the halls and there were few places excluding the concessions to sit down.

Unlike previous years I could not find a list of participating vendors on the website and I’m hoping this was not done with the intention of withholding info that might be detrimental to attendance.

@harmonyards posted:

I wasn’t disappointed for one second,….it was great getting out even if just to look at all the cool postwar,….I think every 2343 Santa Fe F3 ever made was in York this weekend,…which I thought was kinda neat,…..overall it looked like prices bounced all around, but the majority was priced to move I thought,….

Pat

Agree totally!

Peter

I was at the the Eastern Division TCA meeting at 0800.

Paid attendance as of Friday PM was about 9400.

Dan, the Eastern Division President, said that if they get 40% of the TCA membership at York, that’s a success. TCA total membership is a little over 18,000.

I would say 50% is a success.

Getting 9,400 is not surprising since that is about what what York attendance has been trending the last few years. But TCA membership down to 18,000… now that is a surprise.

Any reports from the Lionel display?

There is a bunch of stuff posted everywhere. Look up on post your York pictures here, look on Lionel's FB page or their YouTube channel. If it ain't in any of those, you're not looking hard enough.

@harmonyards posted:

I wasn’t disappointed for one second,….it was great getting out even if just to look at all the cool postwar,….I think every 2343 Santa Fe F3 ever made was in York this weekend,…which I thought was kinda neat,…..overall it looked like prices bounced all around, but the majority was priced to move I thought,….

Pat

Yup yup Pat. There was quite a bit of stuff that I always look at in awe no matter what it is. Despite me moving at a fast pace, I kept my eyes moving looking at everything. I surprised myself by remembering where some things were just by plain old recall I guess. I stopped and looked at things that I just found amazing, including some non O scale stuff. Now I didn't buy that stuff, just found it amazing.

Every York I've attended I talk a heck of a lot. 2017 I talked up a storm with anyone selling(dealers mainly), chatted with a few people on the forum, 2018 I did more of the same, but increased talking to fellow forum folks. That is pretty much how things continued with me. The only things that is usually a disappointment to me, is either not talking to someone I had a chance to, or not finding someone I've wanted to just chat with.

All in all, I'm never really disappointed in what goes on at York as long as I'm able to attend. I even came home with more money than I usually do, and I even stopped at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and picked up a mug and a few books. And yes, one book was on the New York Central, lol. Hopefully there's a Dreyfuss in there.

It was a great show, the SGMA Layout was a highlight for me.   My best deals came out of the yellow hall, Mike’s brown box standard gauge in like new condition ( the prices were so good I paid full price and felt really good about it ).  The gentleman I purchased from said sales were very good.  The other people I purchased from that were set up in the yellow hall said the same thing.  I think if you have unique and fun items people will find you.  
    I made several purchases in the orange hall and the dealers were very positive and upbeat about the show overall. The silver and blue halls were busy upon opening Thursday.  I noticed that there was a lot of MPC but I also saw a lot of TMCC and early Legacy at very good prices.  I had no trouble spending my budget for the all the shows that were missed because of COVID.  

I think we should quit making comparisons to York past. I personally don’t care how many people had shown up at a given York or how many will show up at the next one. I    witnessed a lot of smiling faces, handshakes, hugs and friends reuniting for the first time in what feels like forever.  There will always be the glass half empty people but for me “my cup runneth over”    

I didn't know what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised.

Number of RVs was WAY down.  However, the parking was packed on Thursday and Friday.  More people than I expected on Saturday morning.

Halls were crowded on Thursday and most of Friday - very normal.  I thought that the number of members with tables was pretty good, considering that many of them are in the vulnerable demographic.  My impression was that most stuff was priced to be sold rather than just to be admired.

Got to meet our young YouTube stars, Chris and Jason - nice guys.

Orange looked a little empty due to the missing big dealers; however, I didn't really miss them - it gave me more time to talk with folks and look deeper at the old and unusual stuff.  The lack of big dealers also meant that the Standard Gauge Module Association was able to set up a huge layout - they ran some beautiful and unique items.

Not sure what meet the naysayers were attending - overall, it was a very positive experience. 

@gmorlitz posted:


...

On the annoyance side, I drive out from NJ and came out Rte 30. I got to Strasbourg about 9:30 on Wednesday morning and decided to stop at the Museum. It was closed. Apparently it opens at noon. I don't know it's hours during the year (how many members go to the Museum the third week of January?), but it seems to me 8 hours a day during York week should be attainable. I'm sure someone (or many) will tell me why the Museum can't do that. No problem....

Can't speak to Wednesday, but I visited the museum on Tuesday, and they opened at 10am as usual.  Actually saw a couple of non-TCA families with kids there!

I was disappointed to learn that the RR museum across the road is closed on Monday and Tuesday, so had to come back on Wednesday.

@harmonyards posted:

Maybe it was just me, but I felt like their wasn’t a lot of newer offerings compared to the flood of postwar stuff,….the bandits were overflowing with postwar and a lot of prewar….probably due to a lot of the big dogs staying home. Probably was the same amount of postwar as usual, but now it really overshadowed everything cause of the lack of the bigger vendors,…..I’d sum it up as it sure was postwar paradise for some of those guys, and that’s good,….I still had a great time, and managed to find a couple of goodies,….maybe with this big “ release of energy “ those certain sites will calm down now,…..we’ll see,….

Pat

I was happy to be at York, mostly because I got to see many of the friends that I haven't seen since Oct 2019. I was sad that many didn't come but I totally understand. I missed the big dealers as most of my train budget is spent on the modern era, Lionel Legacy in particular. Their absence did force me to do something I hadn't done in probably the last 20 York Meets, I actually went through every hall. 11,000 steps, 5.5 miles. And, as my friends used to say, as long as you come home with one nice find it was a good York. I came home with two beautiful Milwaukee Road Atlas O woodside reefers, already added to my layout, and in doing so spent an enjoyable half hour talking to Bob Lavezzi of the NY Society of Model Engineers.

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For me it wasn't quite as good as past Yorks, but it was certainly good to be back and hopefully it's the start of the full recovery of the greatest train meet in the world.

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I’m sure there were the usual amount of postwar and prewar available. How was the availability of modern/new production trains? How about the presence of large dealers? What manufacturers were there? Any interesting updates from their displays? Somebody must have talked to them😉

I spoke to Ryan K. at the Lionel display with regard to my one big complaint. I showed him catalog photos and photos of production items and asked how the heck the paint colors got so screwed up. He told me that decisions were made at the factory where an order for graphite colored smokeboxes were produced as a light gray. I asked what they were doing about it and he told me that color samples now have to be sent to Lionel and approved before production begins.

@NYC Fan posted:

I spoke to Ryan K. at the Lionel display with regard to my one big complaint. I showed him catalog photos and photos of production items and asked how the heck the paint colors got so screwed up. He told me that decisions were made at the factory where an order for graphite colored smokeboxes were produced as a light gray. I asked what they were doing about it and he told me that color samples now have to be sent to Lionel and approved before production begins.

Now that's a good answer, and good news.

It was good to get back to the show after two years and see friends and familiar faces. The absence of some of the big guns as respects manufacturers and vendors was disappointing. I have a pretty bad hip so in addition the lack of shuttle buses limited my access to some of the halls and there were few places excluding the concessions to sit down.

Unlike previous years I could not find a list of participating vendors on the website and I’m hoping this was not done with the intention of withholding info that might be detrimental to attendance.

I wouldn't attribute any nefarious motive to the lack of a vendor list - some of the decisions were made at the last minute, and the registration folks were really busy scrambling to make table arrangements for the folks who needed them.  All of the ED volunteers did a tremendous job under trying circumstances.  I personally thanked Diana Hood, and I hope that others did the same.

The amount of volunteer effort that goes into making York enjoyable is tremendous, and the ED folks deserve our appreciation.

I liked the wider aisles - made it much easier to move around and spend time looking at the items.

I missed the Yellow Hall, not realizing it was open....so, what was in it?  Age slowed , l only looped the other halls once each day, Thurs. and Fri. Bought absolutely nothing, but saw several uncommon Marx sets that l would have grabbed ten years ago at the asked prices.  Even though l have gaps, l have balked at prices and backed off on collecting.  Sure hope these various train shops do continue to produce short runs of unique and less ccommon roadnamed cars, and steam locos!?,  from steam era.  As usual saw no interesting structure kits on fairgrounds, but the Indy O scale show had nothing l wanted, either.  Wedding attendance prevented Strasburg O scale show attendance.  ( Can't get people trained to not die or get married in April or October!) But had to pay for a more expensive hotel, so shorter stay offset some of that.   Hope all of you had better luck, and were able to rent a U-Haul to get finds home.

I enjoyed my time at the 2021 York Show.It was nice to see people that I have not seen since the October 2019 show and I enjoyed the Thursday night get together at Quaker Lube Restaurant. It was definitely different at the show itself given that some of the dealers who showed up in the past were not there and Atlas did not show up as well either.It was nice to see MTH Parts and services there even though it was different not seeing their display that they brought in years past. I bought very little with the exception of some MTH figures and the white MTH Christmas Flat Car with trees from Just Trains. Times have certainly changed since I started going in the late 90's in regards to the demographics of the show.

Due to life getting in the way, I have not been to York in about 15 years.   A close friend of mine that let his TCA membership lapse attended with me and he renewed his membership.   We had a great time and I got some fantastic deals.   I bought two NOS MTH six car sets at Just Trains of Delaware booth that I have been looking for a long time, (LV and Reading) fantastic prices.   I also bought about another dozen pieces of rolling stock at the show.    Had no luck with my bucket list of Atlas 628's, but couldn't find them at York 15 years ago either when they were more recent production items.... Saw some gorgeous weaver stuff on the cheap, but hard to find the metal trucks for them now so I passed on Weaver this trip.   The vendors I chatted with said that they were doing great on sales!   We had a great time!!

"So has York made a good recovery"

IMHO, a resounding YES!

9,400 huge smiles (seen in the eyes of those that ere masked) lots of merchandise for sale (I got everything on my wish list (PostWar Southern "B" unit, 209 New Haven Alco pair and an American Flyer 17B transformer) plus other items including a Rock Island Alco  2031 pair (It seems that I've been on an Alco roll having bought a boxed silver 2023 Union Pacific a week before York).

Had a great time at the Bandit meets before the main event too.

It was great having dinner with out of state friends that I have not seen in two years and hotel evening gatherings (with out favorite drinks) in the hotel's breakfast area.

On Thursday, when they played the National Anthem, in the area I was in one person started singing, then another, then all of us!. Most had tears in their eyes by the time the song was over!

April hotel reservations and York badge already in hand, looking forward to then.

The sad part: About a half a dozen train friends were not there, having passed over the last 2 years. Only one from Covid, most of the others from some form of cancer. God Bless them and the others that are no longer with us.

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"I missed the Yellow Hall, not realizing it was open....so, what was in it?"

I was good to be visiting the Yellow hall again - it was closed 20 years ago. A lot brighter than I recall, painted over windows were now clear and the hall was a lot cleaner than I remembered too.

I stopped in Wednesday afternoon to visit the TCA booth and bought a lot of paper from the library. Also chatted with friends from METCA division.

Went back on Thursday but did not buy anything from the vendors - not that there was not a lot for sale, just not what I wanted or needed.

Yes, a stop in Yellow is worth the time and effort





@Lionelski posted:

"I missed the Yellow Hall, not realizing it was open....so, what was in it?"

I was good to be visiting the Yellow hall again - it was closed 20 years ago. A lot brighter than I recall, painted over windows were now clear and the hall was a lot cleaner than I remembered too.

I stopped in Wednesday afternoon to visit the TCA booth and bought a lot of paper from the library. Also chatted with friends from METCA division.

Went back on Thursday but did not buy anything from the vendors - not that there was not a lot for sale, just not what I wanted or needed.

Yes, a stop in Yellow is worth the time and effort

I definitely agree on Yellow being worth visiting.  Also liked the idea of putting the TCA sales area at the fairgrounds - no parking problems, and hopefully the greater exposure led to more sales for TCA.

As you mentioned, it seemed nice and bright in there.  However, I'm not sure if that was due to fresh paint and  better lighting or because the sun was shining through the windows - the lights seemed a bit skimpy.

@Keith k posted:

It seemed like there was an announcement made every 30 minutes to make sure and visit the yellow hall because there were 180 vendors to visit.  I didn’t count, but all my best purchases came from the yellow hall.

I was planning to make that same comment about those frequent Yellow hall announcements but I questioned the accuracy of the vendor count.  I was in there only on Wednesday for the TCA Sale and I don't understand how 180 vendors could be in there.

Anyway, on the positive side, I had a table in the blue hall and sold very well.  I think it was a very successful event given the situation and a downsized York is certainly better than none at all!  The $5.00 per person Tuesday welcome party exceeded expectations and one of our local Florida guys attending York for the first time won the Big Boy!

Thank you to the Eastern Division and all the volunteers that helped to make this a very good and worthwhile event!

Bill

I just returned from the meet Saturday evening, having had a really fun time there, and have just read through this thread. My overall impression of the meet is that it was significantly better than I expected, in virtually every way. EDTCA volunteers deserve a whole lot of credit for organizing and conducting a meet like this in what are still somewhat unusual times and circumstances.

Virtually all of the dealers I spoke with over my three days there reported that they were doing, or had already done, very well from the standpoint of sales. In part, that was likely due to some of the "major players" not being at the event, and the smaller dealers almost certainly reaped the benefit. For me, a real highlight was hearing from Steve Breneisson (Ross Custom Switches) that he virtually sold out of product and has a pile of orders that will keep him and his folks busy through the winter and beyond. That tells me that people are working on, or building layouts, and that bodes very well for the O gauge segment of the hobby. After all, folks don't collect track; they buy it to use it. My guess is that Atlas and GarGraves--two other major track suppliers--would also have benefited from being at York since a number of attendees ask me if they were there.

Overall, I think it was a fine meet, and the actual attendance figure doesn't mean much to me one way or another in light of the times we are living in. I certainly saw lots of people hauling boxes out to load in their cars and then returning to the halls for more buying. And I was part of that action, having bought more at this meet than I have at any York meet in the past decade or so.

Best of all, of course, was having the opportunity to meet up with old friends and even make some new friends. This truly is the world's greatest hobby, and many of the world's greatest people are participants.

@WftTrains posted:

I was planning to make that same comment about those frequent Yellow hall announcements but I questioned the accuracy of the vendor count.  I was in there only on Wednesday for the TCA Sale and I don't understand how 180 vendors could be in there.

Anyway, on the positive side, I had a table in the blue hall and sold very well.  I think it was a very successful event given the situation and a downsized York is certainly better than none at all!  The $5.00 per person Tuesday welcome party exceeded expectations and one of our local Florida guys attending York for the first time won the Big Boy!

Thank you to the Eastern Division and all the volunteers that helped to make this a very good and worthwhile event!

Bill

Initially, the announcements said that there were 180 vendors - later amended to say 180 vendor tables.

@NYC Fan posted:

I was happy to be at York, mostly because I got to see many of the friends that I haven't seen since Oct 2019. I was sad that many didn't come but I totally understand. I missed the big dealers as most of my train budget is spent on the modern era, Lionel Legacy in particular. Their absence did force me to do something I hadn't done in probably the last 20 York Meets, I actually went through every hall. 11,000 steps, 5.5 miles. And, as my friends used to say, as long as you come home with one nice find it was a good York. I came home with two beautiful Milwaukee Road Atlas O woodside reefers, already added to my layout, and in doing so spent an enjoyable half hour talking to Bob Lavezzi of the NY Society of Model Engineers.

IMG_7808

For me it wasn't quite as good as past Yorks, but it was certainly good to be back and hopefully it's the start of the full recovery of the greatest train meet in the world.

I actually took some time looking over some of the Atlas reefers in a few different spots. I finally walked away from two of the vendors that had high prices, one which was very high the other probably just about or close to what should be. I walked towards the front of the Orange Hall and looked over the third vendors stuff. Wound up buying 3 reefers and 1 single sheetfed boxcar. That was Friday. Saturday before I left I bought 2 more over in the Purple Hall, about the same good pricing as the guy I bought off of the day before. These are the first Atlas cars in my collection, and since they are steam era cars, perfect for me.

With those bought and the MTH NYC Madison passenger cars, it made for a very great York for me. Having a good amount of money leftover and being able to make buys on each day(and not say I spent more money on food/drink than on train stuff is a good day indeed). I also bought stuff at the Ross booth, but had wanted more stuff from there. Like Allan said, for them to be busy and behind shows some good signs for the hobby.

One other thing that is a pretty good sign is the future. Many remember a few years ago there was a topic about younger generations not being into the hobby like most of the older folks in it. This time around at the pre-York breakfast we had two much younger people who are on YouTube and have pretty good channels promoting the hobby.

They were happy to have breakfast with us older folks, and equally excited IMO to get into York. Having run into Sean, Chris and Jason a few times, it is clear to me that these three are full in on the hobby, and have started those great friendships that only the hobby and York bring. Sean had posted on his second video that he was done and was going to take Saturday off, he didn't need to come back. When I saw him Saturday morning I started laughing. I talked to him and he said something about he had to come back. Chris was also there Saturday but unsure if Jason was.

Either way, these young guys and their friends have made great York memories, and more to come. I am speaking of Sean of Sean's Trains, Chris of RBP Trains(I think is his channel), and Jason is JDStucks on YouTube.

It was great to see those old friends of mine, even though this is only my fourth York. I even find time to sit down(a few times) and just talk to some people who like me were taking a break. Whether talking trains, pizza, or just about sore feet from walking, it was and always will be a great time in my opinion. I don't think I have had a bad York experience, only it being cancelled(like others would agree). I even got some time to talk with Allan and Dave for a bit. It is always good to chat up for a spell while you are waiting to move to your next potential purchase.

Some miscellaneous photos, in no particular order, taken at the York Meet. Note that a number of them were taken in the Orange Hall before the meet actually opened, hence the lack of shoppers.IMG-1088IMG-1091IMG-1092IMG-1079IMG-1081IMG-1086IMG-1093IMG-1103IMG-1108IMG-1110IMG-1113IMG-1117IMG-1121IMG-1123IMG-1124IMG-1133IMG-1135

Quite a lot of sales happened as I remember some tables full my first walk through, next day quite a bit less, Saturday, some almost bare. All I can add further to what I've said already, everything was great, better than my expectations in my head. So much to see, and the right amount of time.

From my POV as a seller in Blue Hall, it was a very good York.  People were definitely in a buying mood... or maybe my prices were too low...

I had a great time and even managed to find some treasures to bring home.  It was great seeing so many of the forum friends I've made over the years, and meeting a bunch of new ones as well.

As always, it went by way too fast, and I'm already planning for April!

Andy

I am one of the newcomers to York and just my opinion but the fact that it could be held and that there was so much to see is a win in itself. Given where we are with Covid, where people still have concerns, I thought it was a pretty healthy turnout. My impression is what others have said on this thread, that most of what I saw for sale was post war/pre war through MPC era, there wasn't as much of 'modern' equipment. Prices for the most part to my (inexperienced) eyes looked decent, I did see some stuff that made me shake my head, like one guy with a sign on a ZW "hot bargain, 160, regularly 200" (ZW's could be had for 100 bucks), and others who were I suspect despite being TCA members were dealers who bought out someone's estate and were trying to get 1990's prices (this was in Purple Hall I think.).  For me the way York is laid out kind of worked out nicely, it was nice weather and it forced me to walk, so that was good, too. Honestly given what I saw there I think York will be in good shape once things really get back to normal.

I also was kind of blown away by the modular standard gauge layout, I had never really noticed standard gauge before and was kind of blown away by it, the trains really are pieces of art (to me). I ended up buying a 1925 engine no 8, not to run it, but because for some reason it touched me that this was something a kid had played with nearly 100 years ago. I am not a collector per se, but for whatever reasons wanted it to display...so I guess you can say it changed me.

I do want to give a shoutout to the people running this, they did a great job, and having done volunteer work like this it can be one of the most thankless things you can do, I made it a point to try and thank the EDTCA people I ran into (sometimes literally).

About the only thing I would say to the folks running York and even other train shows is finding a way to make it easier for dealers and people with tables to accept credit cards and the like. Given how expensive this stuff is, it is kind of clunky to have to carry around a lot of cash and the ATM machines have limits on how much you can take out (I know, this is nothing new). You don't even have to use credit cards, it is possible to use payment vendors like Venmo to send money via email for example. I think people would make a lot more sales if that was made easier,especially if they want to attract younger people, where cash transactions are not all that common.

Overall I enjoyed it and hopefully I can make the April show.

From my POV as a seller in Blue Hall, it was a very good York.  People were definitely in a buying mood... or maybe my prices were too low...



Speaking as someone who bought an item off your table, IMO your items were in the middle - not going to fly off the table, but priced fairly to have room to negotiate.  And it was nice to meet someone who posts frequently on the forum.

My impression was that asking prices in general were more reasonable than in the past, and people were more willing to negotiate.  I'm always amazed and amused by the folks who put outrageous prices on items - if someone isn't interested in selling, why bother sitting there for 2-1/2 days? 

@Jameszz posted:

Good idea for a new thread before the next York. Forum members who are selling tell us what hall and what table so we can stop by to shop and chat. Maybe this was already a thing and I missed it?

People have started those in the past.  I'm guessing that nobody did it this time since a lot of people made a last minute decision about going.  Also, the ED folks were scrambling to make the table assignment, so a lot of folks might not have known where they were going to be located.

I'm thrilled to hear about how York has bounced back,sounds like prices were right,sales were brisk and both buyers and sellers were happy. I had tickets purchased and even hotel reservations made (Since June) but had to cancel six weeks ago when a big project came up in South Korea for a client in Australia. There was a train related consolation - I rode Korail KTX high speed trains all over South Korea. They have a fantastic,world class high speed rail system,as good as Japan,France and Germany. I've now made my hotel reservations for April 2022 and plan to attend. I'm excited!

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@MartyE posted:

Grybowski (sp) was the only big dealer.

There is actual some good reports here. I’m not sure what your looking for? The tinplate layout was definitely a highlight.

Marty:

Trainworld cancelled on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, as Ken was not feeling well. That was the only real surprise among the large train dealers. We knew in advance that CharlesRo and Nicholas Smith would not be there. Mr. Muffin, Stockyard Express and Trainz were in the Orange Hall along with Grzyboski, and Just Trains was in the Purple Hall.

Pat

Day 2 at York...Carol and I hit the Red, White, and Orange halls starting around 8:30 AM.    Got my second (and last) purchase in the White hall...a MTH Premier set of three slag cars (no company markings) for a very fair price (had been looking at getting this set on and off for the last five years).  Carol bought a variety of brightly lit toy cars for our grandkids from the vendor at the south end of the Orange hall...and that (including lunch from the food trucks) wrapped up York for us...on the road around 12:30 PM. 

Observations...

1) heard a lot of favorable comments from fellow Yorkers on the widening of the aisles in the halls...more time to view the wares; less time fighting the crowds.

2) A lot of younger folks (and their kids) in attendance...nice to see.

3) Liked the Yellow hall...particularly the vendor who had a lot of books and written material on toy trains and layouts (some dating back to the 1930s)...regret not buying some of them.

4)  Merchandise was heavily tilted towards Lionel O Gauge Postwar, MPC, LTI, and MTH (sure was sad not seeing their big booth and Mike in attendance).  As a Pre/Postwar lover, this suited me just fine...but I understand where a modern-era runner would be disappointed at the lack of state of the art things for sale this time around.

5)  Saw a lot of S gauge in all the member halls.  Lesser amounts of Prewar O Gauge tinplate and Standard gauge.

6)  Eastern Division did a superb job planning and executing this York under extremely difficult conditions...well done to them all!

Hope to be back to York this coming April!  John

@Mallard4468 posted:

Speaking as someone who bought an item off your table, IMO your items were in the middle - not going to fly off the table, but priced fairly to have room to negotiate.  And it was nice to meet someone who posts frequently on the forum.

My impression was that asking prices in general were more reasonable than in the past, and people were more willing to negotiate.  I'm always amazed and amused by the folks who put outrageous prices on items - if someone isn't interested in selling, why bother sitting there for 2-1/2 days?

I try to price all my items with room to negotiate, as about 90-95% of buyers in the member halls haggle on prices, and I am no different when buying, so being in the middle is where I want to be so I have that room to negotiate.  I think that this trip, only 3 buyers paid the asking price, and they bought single, lower-priced items.

I am convinced that many of the people with the outrageous prices are there mostly to socialize with their friends and couldn't care less if they sell anything.  And that is OK with me, as I enjoy looking at their stuff, and that doesn't cost a cent.

I probably met a half-dozen forum members for the first time this trip just from them recognizing my name from my badge.  That is another fun aspect of being a table-holder.  I've met so many interesting people, and had many interesting conversations over the years.

Andy

@bigkid posted:


About the only thing I would say to the folks running York and even other train shows is finding a way to make it easier for dealers and people with tables to accept credit cards and the like. Given how expensive this stuff is, it is kind of clunky to have to carry around a lot of cash and the ATM machines have limits on how much you can take out (I know, this is nothing new). You don't even have to use credit cards, it is possible to use payment vendors like Venmo to send money via email for example. I think people would make a lot more sales if that was made easier,especially if they want to attract younger people, where cash transactions are not all that common.

Overall I enjoyed it and hopefully I can make the April show.

Just as an aside, there are apps one can download for free to their cellphone (Square is one of them) and set up an account to accept credit card payments through your cellphone. All you need is a bank account and a cellphone.

No reason the EDTCA people need to get involved - any dealer/seller can easily set up such an account to accept credit card payments themselves.

I try to price all my items with room to negotiate, as about 90-95% of buyers in the member halls haggle on prices, and I am no different when buying, so being in the middle is where I want to be so I have that room to negotiate.  I think that this trip, only 3 buyers paid the asking price, and they bought single, lower-priced items.

I am convinced that many of the people with the outrageous prices are there mostly to socialize with their friends and couldn't care less if they sell anything.  And that is OK with me, as I enjoy looking at their stuff, and that doesn't cost a cent.

I probably met a half-dozen forum members for the first time this trip just from them recognizing my name from my badge.  That is another fun aspect of being a table-holder.  I've met so many interesting people, and had many interesting conversations over the years.

Andy

In my case I bought an item I already owned and forgot I did!  I bet no one else has ever done that before. 

-Greg

@Greg Houser posted:

In my case I bought an item I already owned and forgot I did!  I bet no one else has ever done that before. 

-Greg

I have, Greg, EVEN TOUGH I carry a 16 page EXCEL listing of my inventory.

The last time I had transposed a number and thought it was a different item I was looking at.

ALSO, often I'll knowingly buy a duplicate item thinking that it is in better condition than the one I had  - only to find that the opposite was true when I got home.

I've had great success selling these duplicate items on this Forum's For sale or Trade section. A wonderful perk for being here.

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@Chris1985 posted:

This was my first ever York and I had a blast! Met so many folks (including many on this forum thanks to the OGR breakfast). Loved spending time with vendors, other hobbyists and I hauled WAYYYY too many trains away from that show.

- Chris (RBP Trains)

Enjoyed meeting you (and Jason).  Also appreciate your latest YouTube video where you show the pile of stuff you brought home from York - this was especially helpful because it was bigger than my stash.  "Bbbbut mom, look what the other kids did..."

@bigkid posted:

...I do want to give a shoutout to the people running this, they did a great job, and having done volunteer work like this it can be one of the most thankless things you can do, I made it a point to try and thank the EDTCA people I ran into (sometimes literally).

About the only thing I would say to the folks running York and even other train shows is finding a way to make it easier for dealers and people with tables to accept credit cards and the like. Given how expensive this stuff is, it is kind of clunky to have to carry around a lot of cash and the ATM machines have limits on how much you can take out (I know, this is nothing new). You don't even have to use credit cards, it is possible to use payment vendors like Venmo to send money via email for example. I think people would make a lot more sales if that was made easier,especially if they want to attract younger people, where cash transactions are not all that common...

Re showing appreciation, I'd like to encourage everyone to send an email to Mike Petronella (contact info on EDTCA's website) - I don't know how many of the meet volunteers are on this forum, so they might not know how much we appreciate the effort.

Re the payment situation, vendors that run as a business have many options for non-cash payments if they choose, but there are several reasons why sellers often prefer cash - no fees, simplified bookkeeping, and privacy.  And from a buyer standpoint, cash helps with budgeting and negotiating, and some folks don't want their significant other to know how much they spent.  In addition, many dealers will discount to "pay the tax" when cash is used - on a $1000 purchase, this amounts to $60.  I don't know about you, but I'd rather buy another boxcar than send that money to the PA dept. of revenue.

It's 6 months until April; start building that stash of cash now...

@Richie C. posted:

Just as an aside, there are apps one can download for free to their cellphone (Square is one of them) and set up an account to accept credit card payments through your cellphone. All you need is a bank account and a cellphone.

No reason the EDTCA people need to get involved - any dealer/seller can easily set up such an account to accept credit card payments themselves.

I agree, the point is there are a variety of ways to get payment these days, including paypal, venmo, and yep, with a gizmo attached to a phone you can accept credit cards or debit cards. Maybe it is just that the dealers at York (and other shows) are kind of old school, but it def makes it harder to buy what are often big ticket items. I definitely think it would help sales a great deal, might not be so good on the pocketbooks of the buyers and might cause friction back home.

I drove from Phoenix (actually west of) to York.  I haven't been there since I moved out west.  I have actually moved back east.  I downsized from a 3000 sq ft house to a less than 10 x 10 bedroom in my daughter's house, so currently no room for a train layout.

However, my visit to York was a pleasant one.  I met up with friends I have not seen for many years.  Sadly, one of our friends, and an OGR Forum member passed away on Thursday right before the meet.  He had reserved tables at York!

So despite who was missing, I found that I did not have enough time to wander through all of the halls.  There were tons of vendors. So much to see!  I arrived on Friday, which cut out a lot of browsing time. I found 2 items I did not know I was looking for!  Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse high cube boxcars that used to sell for $200 each were only $25 each!  That completed that set for me.  Now I can sell it as a complete collection. Got a couple of K-Line ceramic train houses, something else I didn't know I was looking for.  I like them because they make setting up a train around a tree easier, with these sturdy and well decorated pieces.  I really wanted to buy a Lionel K-4 decorated for the head of a funeral train, from Mr. Muffin.  The problem for me is I have a Lionel Union Pacific Veranda and a NYC Alleghany coming.  Can't afford too many big ticket items.  It was hard to leave that train behind.  It really is nicely decorated with bunting on the handrails alongside the boiler.

A great shout out to Eastern TCA for hosting such a very fine meet.

I think I will be attending the April York for sure, and may even make hotel reservations now.  I had to drive 20 miles north to find a hotel with any vacancy.  Even at that distance, it was heavily booked, and pricey!  I saw some train meet attendees there as well.  The April time frame will allow my wallet to be ready for big ticket items.  One item I could not find there was a MTH TIU.  I looked hard for one too.  I did get the MTH handheld controller NOS version 6.1, I believe.

So all in all, I think it was a great meet, and have zero negatives to post about.

I’ll chime in with my 2 pennies. Thank you to EDTCA for planning and execution of another York show given the fact the country still is not out of this pandemic yet. Still a very good turnout in vendors as well as folks who attended. As for the dealers with new product, I really did not miss them. I have more than enough trains and only look for a specific item and have been buying the postwar I did not get back when I started in the hobby again about 35 years ago. I did have trains and slot cars as a youngster.
I was just glad to attend having a single heart artery bypass surgery about 6 weeks ago and walking the halls was excellent exercise! Real glad waking up each morning and seeing the green grass from the top view!

I did buy a set of postwar 2023 UP silver/gray alcos for $100 to go with the 2400 series cars I have and I bought all the cab-1 big red buttons a dealer had in the Orange hall. My club needs at least one. These are excellent for shows we do.

That was the main purchases for me plus some parts I needed. Real nice to catch up with folks I have not seen in 1.5 years and it felt like a longer time than that.

April York is on the calendar!  

Real glad waking up each morning and seeing the green grass from the top view!

And the view was great up here!

Real nice to catch up with folks I have not seen in 1.5 years and it felt like a longer time than that.

April York is on the calendar!  

If you're talking about seeing people at the York Meet, the reason it felt like a longer time is because it was!   I hadn't seen many of these people for two years, did they sneak a York Meet in after the Fall 2019 meet?

I try to price all my items with room to negotiate, as about 90-95% of buyers in the member halls haggle on prices, and I am no different when buying, so being in the middle is where I want to be so I have that room to negotiate.  I think that this trip, only 3 buyers paid the asking price, and they bought single, lower-priced items.

I am convinced that many of the people with the outrageous prices are there mostly to socialize with their friends and couldn't care less if they sell anything.  And that is OK with me, as I enjoy looking at their stuff, and that doesn't cost a cent.

I probably met a half-dozen forum members for the first time this trip just from them recognizing my name from my badge.  That is another fun aspect of being a table-holder.  I've met so many interesting people, and had many interesting conversations over the years.

Andy

Andy,

By time we got to your table on day 2 we were out of space in the suitcase & $$$....

Nice to meet you.

Jim

It was great to be back at York,  I could only spend one day.  After seeing this past fall meet I believe that the April meet will even be better.  Several train shops in the area have told me that the virus has renewed interest in trains.  It seemed that there were more young people at the meet than in previous meets.  Just wish I could have spent an additional day.  Had a great time on Thursday.

Not much more I can add. Everyone has their own view and experience at the York Meet. Mine was the same as always: lots and lots of fun seeing friends, meeting new people and being around all the trains!!

I was surprised how many vendors actually were there!  I saw a lot of good deals, a couple I purchased, and some delusional pricing. I was very happy with the entire Meet and I picked up our badges for April’s Meet.

It’s funny, we used to live a little over an hour from the York Fairgrounds. We would come in for the Meet and spend the three days there. Now after moving to Southern California, we spend the whole week there. Not only to make it a vacation but to visit with family and friends. And there still wasn’t enough time.

Looking forward to April!!

I thought that the # of vendors was in line with expectations considering Covid. IMHO, the # of vendors was down about 20%, but still enough there to keep me interested. I was there on Friday only. I thought the foot traffic was down about 30%, mostly unmasked. All in all a good experience. As we move further and further away from the Covid era I hope these #s will come up.

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