York 2015 opinions

Likes

• lionel booth was active. Lots of cool things to see
• MTH booth also busy. And also lots of cool things. DCS app looking like it will happen by years end
• While Thursday was lighter crowd wise, it was cold. Friday was busier. 
• LUG meeting showed the sensor boxcar and High Rail App.
• Lots of orange hall Vendors seemed short on inventory. Lot of LC+ available. 
• Tuesdays was fine for me. 

Dislikes

• No LCS demos at the Lionel booth. Come on guys people need to see this. I'll volunteer to do a couple. 
• Still no 255e caboose for my Lionel Corp Tinplate 
• Tuesdays was not fine for all
• Less crowds. It April and it was cold Thursday. But a cold day at York is better than a warm day at work. 
• The DCS app is delayed again. 
• Not much else. 

I believe the crowds were definitely down from the last meet.(on Thursday) I haven't missed one in 15 years. It gets easier and easier to negotiate the halls each time I go due to the lower attendance. I still want to see the show open at 9am on Thursday. Been saying that since they started the Thursday opening.

I thought the crowd was less than I remembered from my last visit to York (2-3 years ago) so I looked at the eastern divisions website.  The registered member count they showed was 8011 for Oct. 2014, total with spouses and others was 12,355. Just a guess but this show was probably less than that, attrition? 

Looking forward to returning in October.

Billy Budd, Best Western bandit meets were abysmal. Wyndam was sparse partially due to the usual lousy weather conditions.

Fire hall was normal, large Flyer and Gilbert HO selection.

Saw more empty tables (5-6) "for sale" in each hall.

Some usual sellers/exhibitors were absent and the aisles were adjusted to use the available space. (purple hall and brown hall).

Blue and Silver halls more crowded than usual on Thursday and Fri morning. 

I thought less Flyer than the fall meet.

A few individual sellers had more (quality) boxed sets for sale.

Some Flyer normal high quality Flyer vendors seemed to have less inventory.

Nassau Hobbies...New Defender set for $299!

Vendor in the Silver hall had a mint SHS steamer for $250!

Deals could be found if you looked.

Rich

It really hit home this York how much I miss Don Thompson and all the other great people from S Helper.

I miss their beautiful operating S layout and tables stacked with new S gauge products, and their show specials.

MTH and Lionel seem to be indifferent to their S gauge products with only token samples in their large booths.

The Lionel PE set was running in the Lionel booth, but it is bland compared to its O gauge LionChief cousins, with the AF Berk cast handrails looking weird, like tiny fins, in my opinion.

Thursday afternoon seemed to be very active, with the parking lot nearly filled and bargains to be found in the member halls. Have to act fast on the bargains. 

The Y3's were selling for $425 new at one big Lionel dealer.

Halls do seem less crowded than past years.

I'm not a much of a Flyer collector...but I do collect HO boxed sets(I do have 2 mint boxed HO AF sets from 1960) I have been going to York for 28 years and never been to the fire hall but I got in early Wednesday and after I set up my truck camper I walked down to the fire hall...there was one table there that had some great looking AF HO sets ! I could have blown my whole roll an that table and made a short trip of it !

I found the woman making the announcements to be particularly annoying this trip...I guess I am getting old....other than that I had a great York !!!

If RV population is any indicator, it was definitely down from prior meets.  And with fuel prices at more comfortable lows, I would've thought the overall attendance....and especially RV's....would've been up a tad.

Ah, well, as one fellow opined across the table during the Friday ice cream social....'It's STILL the economy, stupid!'...in a friendly banter, of course.  Maybe.  Maybe not.

Would agree that Thursday was not as populous....very light crowds at the usual doors following the National Anthem opener.  Wife and I shared the same comment when entering Brown Hall....'Whoa!  Where IS everyone?' (usual dealers)

On the upside, though, I met/talked with a York first-timer.  Shall we say he was still trying to un-cross his eyes after touring several buildings...had NEVER seen anything like it for his years in the hobby.

Which leads me to a suggestion....I've seen some pretty awesome drone video dressed up with appropriate music and captioning to inspire attendance to large events.  I should think a professional drone videographer could be hired to make an outside AND inside record of a meet at it's best.  Complemented with video features highlighting area accommodations, restaurants, significant places to visit (e.g., TCA Headquarters/Museum, et al), etc., etc., it could help bolster attendance, increase interest.  People who know speak in so much hyperbole about York.  However, seeing York from a perspective not otherwise known could have real benefits.  Besides, most videos from a drone that I've seen would not compromise the privacy issues surrounding member halls.

Just a thought....trying to help with a new idea......FWIW, always.

Wife and I will NOT be dissuaded from our semi-annual York visits.

KD

I always appreciate seeing the modular layouts.  Thank you to both groups for setting up and running.  They are a great distraction to the ongoing shopping.  

I would like to see some more chairs around the layouts though.  Maybe next time.

From last April there seemed to be less dealers. Some dealers were dealing others weren't.  I came home with 3 mth engines and no Lionel.  Deals were in Mth. 

There did seem to be fewer folks wandering the halls.  OTOH, sales over at the Henning's booth were brisk, so there were people buying.

Unofficial registration figures, 11,000. The actual count won't be known for some time. Traffic in the Orange Hall was about the same as the past few meets, but steady on Thursday, and close to the same on Friday. Saturday would be a good day for a vacation!

Don

It's only natural for the show to "shrink"; we baby boomers are dinosaurs.

According to my 5 YO grand-daughter, "This was the best day ever!"  

. . . mostly she was referring to the shuttle bus rides. 

Bob

1) There seems to be more Flyer at each successive York.  Are Flyer guys "moving on" at a faster rate than Lionel guys?  Maybe that third rail bestows increased life expectancy.

2) The parking lot seemed more full at noon on Thursday than previously.  It was hard to move around in the member halls.  Easy to get around in dealer halls.

3) Looked like a lot fewer RVs - maybe down by half.  

4) Seemed like there was less new product in Orange.  Production problems, perhaps? 

5) Same overpriced stuff in Blue & Silver that I've been seeing for 20+ years.  Do those guys really enjoy hauling their stuff back and forth, year after year?

6) Lots of covered tables in member halls on Thursday and Friday - why do people bring all that stuff and then cover it up?

7) K-Line passenger cars seem to command high prices.  Hard to believe that Lionel quit selling them.

Just an observation.  Thursdays are definitely the older/retired crowd in comparison to Friday that has a greater age mix.  I would think it reflects on the fact that when you have a full time job it is easier to take a Friday off and extend the weekend then taking both Thursday and Friday off. When you have a limited amount of vacation days (never enough) you have to plan wisely.  I am fortunate that I have 5 weeks vacation after 25 years of working at the same place.

Enjoyed attending York on Thursday. Crowds seem down from earlier meets.

Found a Lionel PRR Y3 at a good price. Nice to see Korber continuing to make and upgrade their buildings.

Sorry to see Custom Signals gone, and Atlas continue to decline.

"Not needing anything at York does not mean not buying anything"

I agree that the pre show attendance is down at the hotels. The billy budd was abysmal. Few vendors fewer visitors.  For the TCA show I have noticed over the last several years that attendance is down. Yes there are more Flyer boxed sets coming out of the wood work but I am not going to pay the crazy prices the vendors want for them. These are toys and the demand for them is going down because there are fewer of us interested in trains as a hobby in this country.  I did get a few great deals at the show and walked away happy!

I thought the show was smaller than in previous years, even for April.  And I have been coming since Fall 2000.  The aisles were definitely wider.

Some of the prices on older products (Weaver freight and Weaver B60b baggage cars) were definitely bumped higher.  Weaver freight cars were in the $30-40 range where they had been in the $20-25 range just last year.  And B60b's were scarce as hen's teeth and priced near or above their original MSRP.

The new "normal" seemed to have locked in the usual staple items (cheap 1:43 cars) at the $7/8 level vs $4/5.  That said, there were some bargains available.

George

Yes, good observation.  Brown was about half filled, dominated by Public Delivery Track.  Purple was a bit sparse as well, although more populated than Brown.

And Black wasn't even open? 

George