First day is history. What are your thoughts and did you buy anything.
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I had a conversation with Mike Reagan about his progress in restoring a mid-60s Jeep Forward Control truck. He’s doing a frame-off restoration of this relatively rare Jeep model. Nice hobby. Turns out there is more in life than O scale trains?
I spent most of today in the Orange hall. In terms of what I look for (LGB, 2 rail O, and modern tinplate) the LGB was noticeably absent, with very little newer or hard to find product. Believe it or not, in the past I’ve done quite well finding rare LGB at York. The 2 rail o scale seemed more sparse than usual, and it’s usually pretty sparse already. That said, there was a good amount of standard and o gauge modern tinplate and I got some good deals there. I breezed through the other halls pretty quickly. There were a few sellers in the purple hall, which was mostly empty and the red hall was missing a few more rows. Thanks to the tinplate and some o gauge buildings the meet was well worth it for me. The lack of LGB was a bit disturbing, but that can come and go in cycles.
in terms of the people there, the population continues to age. However, I did seem to notice more young people, and the YouTube and social media influencers were out in force.
First time there since before the lockdown. I was just floored when I walked into the Purple Hall. Just empty.
I did not go into all of the halls, but I ran through the big ones. I just grabbed some cheap diecast that caught my eye. My true spending will begin in a few hours.
This is my first time, and I'm new to the hobby, but overall it's impressive.
Some initial thoughts..
I'm sure the color of the halls have some meaning, but why not call it Dealer Hall or Dealer Hall #1? For a new comer it was more confusing then it needed to be. The announcements that were made throughout the day also included the namaes (colors) as well saying member or dealer so it required the announcements to say both. I'm sure for those that have been to a few or a many of the shows, it's common knowledge, but it is rather confusing to a newcomer.
The Orange Dealer Hall could benefit from wider aisles. With the people and scooters it was often a blocked path. Maybe move some dealers to the purple hall which was 90% empty. It is great the hall was packed with vendors and people but the aisles as well as space to walk in the booths was often restricted/narrow, and I'm a thin person.
In general, the pricing from the larger dealers didn't appear much different from their store/website.
There were a few dealers that had large spaces - Neely's, Gryzboskis & Trainworld are top of mind. Most of the other well known names had a smaller booth then I was expecting. I can understand if there were just 1 or maybe 2 folks running the booth but some had more and the space was tight/smaller than it could have been.
I was amazed and the amount of tinplate in the dealer hall. Really cool to look at but not my aspect of the hobby.
I got to my first member hall (Blue) close to 4pm. Some of the members had covered up their spaces already and in the 50 mins I was there, and there was plenty of customer traffic, more vendors started covering their spaces. By 4:50p, 10 mins before closing maybe half were covered up. I will hit up the Blue/Server member halls today. I also saw a lot of the cool tinplate out for sale, but again, not my thing.
I made some purchases but not high $$. My wife is with me and I think she spent more $$ on various items/presents. Her first reaction when we walked in the Orange Dealer hall was - holy s**t!
My feet didn't hurt at all but my hips did, and that was poppin Advil. It's tough getting old - hit 60 this year.
@David_NJ posted:This is my first time, and I'm new to the hobby, but overall it's impressive. ,,,,,
My feet didn't hurt at all but my hips did, and that was poppin Advil. It's tough getting old - hit 60 this year.
Tough getting old at 60? Many of those in attendance would consider you part of the youth brigade and the future of the hobby.
Glad you got a chance to experience York.
@Mooner posted:Tough getting old at 60? Many of those in attendance would consider you part of the youth brigade and the future of the hobby.
Glad you got a chance to experience York.
At 62, it still seems like I am younger than most of the guys here. Just doesn’t seem possible. The thing that really ticks me off is that most of them also seem to get around better than me. Anymore, I have to base my purchase decision on whether or not I can get the item back to my car. 😡
The Purple hall has just 5 sellers. It’s completely empty except the one wall.
All the other halls are full.
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Here now. Did a tour of Silver, Blue, and Orange Halls. Good crowd. Orange hall is pretty full. I spotted @ericstrains.com and @Andy Edleman. Nice presence from Atlas O.
Grabbing a hot dog and head for the Red and White Halls.
Weather is nice! It's a great day to be at York.
@rplst8 posted:Here now. Did a tour of Silver, Blue, and Orange Halls. Good crowd. Orange hall is pretty full. I spotted @ericstrains.com and @Andy Edleman. Nice presence from Atlas O.
Grabbing a hot dog and head for the Red and White Halls.
Weather is nice! It's a great day to be at York.
Have fun!
I saw an MTH Triplex for sale yesterday in the Orange Hall. I wonder if you might be in on the prowl for one of those?
David, The purple hall is just for layouts.
@David_NJ posted:The Purple hall has just 5 sellers. It’s completely empty except the one wall.
All the other halls are full.
Until a few years ago the hall was full of everything. The reason why is because the Orange Hall used to have quite a number of folks in there as well, Lionel, Charles Ro, and others. Since Lionel has not been in, and Charles Ro had health issues, and the others backed out as well, they consolidated a lot of people from the Purple Hall into the Orange Hall. 2021 it was very odd because they still had people/vendors in the Purple Hall. The Orange Hall was very open, and people seemed to be worried because of the empty space. Things changed and folks were moved around to keep a flow to it. In 2021 under the Grandstands had vendors there as well, not this time around though.
@Norman R posted:Have fun!
I saw an MTH Triplex for sale yesterday in the Orange Hall. I wonder if you might be in on the prowl for one of those?
I saw it too but it was a Virginian and too $$$.
Nice photos from York, rplst8 !
< Full disclosure: The following comment is the product of an unbalanced sense of humour and NOT to be taken seriously. >
Awww, you missed an opportunity in not buying that MTH Triplex! It’s so pricey because it doesn’t suffer from wheel slip as much as that Visionline Triplex that Lionel will be coming out with. Real engineers hate wheel slip and do not do it for fun. What a whacky, gruesome feature!
@Norman R posted:
< Full disclosure: The following comment is the product of an unbalanced sense of humour and NOT to be taken seriously. >
Awww, you missed an opportunity in not buying that MTH Triplex! It’s so pricey because it doesn’t suffer from wheel slip as much as that Visionline Triplex that Lionel will be coming out with. Real engineers hate wheel slip and do not do it for fun. What a whacky, gruesome feature!
I know you're kidding but for me, since the Virginian version had a slightly different wheel arrangement in real life, I'd rather have the more accurate Erie livery.
Picked up some Glen Snyder shelving that I pre-ordered. Other than that, nothing. I'm pretty picky about what I am buying these days. But it was fun to walk around.
@rplst8 posted:I know you're kidding but for me, since the Virginian version had a slightly different wheel arrangement in real life, I'd rather have the more accurate Erie livery.
That’s a solid reason. The MTH Virginian Triplex has accuracy issues. I appreciate scale models that are accurate to the prototype. But when I do manage to get one, I set it down on my three-rail track that is inaccurate by a whopping 50%. Somehow I am ok with this, but its unsettling when I think about it.
This was my first time at York. Went with my 9 year old grandson. We were hoping to stay till Saturday for the youtube meet and greet but had some other family things to do on Saturday.
This is the biggest show we have been to. We had a great time. Didnt find what we were looking for. (Lionel big boy 4014) But picked up several things. Both of us were in awe as to how much was for sale. Looking forward to going again next year
Back in the hotel.....a great two days so far!
Pre-show breakfast Thursday AM; a shift at the 2024 Convention Store Then, the Orange Hall and bought a few Legacy engines....NYC Consolidation, and two Atlantics, New York Central and New Haven.
Quaker Steak last evening. This AM back to Round-the-Clock for a repeat breakfast with a smaller group, but mathe Halls for more Giraffe cars to add to my Giraffe train.....I've lost count how many (I think somewhere in the 11-12 range). Dinner with colleagues at the Olive Garden.....and now, I will collapse in bed.
Just over 24K steps Thursday and well over 20K today.
Peter
A few things we miss from past Yorks that have nothing to do with trains.
The Yellow Hall. (Not sure if anyone else misses this though). 
the funnel cakes
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@eddie g posted:David, The purple hall is just for layouts.
Nope. There were vendors in there. Very few but they were there. They should just close one of the halls, red, white or purple and combine them into 2. The layouts in the purple could have easily fit in Black with the Standard Gauge group. The handful of vendor could have gone in any of the other halls, especially White or Red.
The vendors in the purple hall got a sour deal IMO. They were basically on a deserted island.
@MartyE posted:The vendors in the purple hall got a sour deal IMO. They were basically on a deserted island.
Only if no one bothered to step inside and check out the Purple Hall, or simply assumed that there was nothing in it and didn't even try.
If they did, then those few vendors who were there got essentially undivided attention, precisely because there were so few of them.
Mike
@David_NJ posted:The Purple hall has just 5 sellers. It’s completely empty except the one wall.
All the other halls are full.
Yes it was dark, dreary and a bit chilly in there. If I was any of those sellers I would be more than a bit perturbed about the conditions.
I thought it was refreshing to go into the Purple Hall & be able to better see sale items and not have blocked aisles.
Like always, I love going to York. To me, its more about the time I spend with friends, new people I meet, and just the general camaraderie. I found some things I liked, some things I was looking for, and some things I just had to have. I was only able to be there on Friday because it was really hard to get more than Friday off this go around, but here is my overall take:
Good things:
- Manufacturers: I'm always happy to see MTH there and stop by to talk to Rich, ask about products, and It was REALLY good to see Atlas there. I had a good convo with one of their reps and seeing demos of PS3 and DCS in the wild
- I felt like the quality of items there was higher than in April. Prices on the things I was looking for was also great
- The random / awkward jerky stands in the Orange hall were gone! Hooray!
- As always, I seem to find some of the best things in the White Hall. Those tables are pretty great.
Things that could be better:
- Modular layouts. While it was great to see the 4 operating layouts (its always incredible to see the SGMA layout), I was disappointed that there was only 1 layout, a handful of vendors, and a bunch of empty tables in the Purple hall. I'm shocked to see there aren't more modular layouts there. I feel like there are so many groups in the PA, MD, DC, VA, DE, NJ, and NY areas, but none of them are tapped to come. I really hope the EDTCA tries to bring in some more of these great orgs next year.
- Orange Hall reconfiguration: I felt like there was more empty tables in the orange hall in Oct than April. Does it make sense to have more operating layouts in the orange hall and move some of the empty tables or smaller "dealers" into a different hall? Maybe even consolidate some of the dead space.
On Thursday afternoon, we went through part of the Orange Hall and some of the member halls. I picked up a tank car at Trainz that I had pre-ordered online. I enjoyed looking, but it didn't look very different from my first York in April 2023. I didn't see any great deals on what I was looking for (selected MTH, Atlas or Weaver freight cars from the 1980's to today, that would be seen in the mid-Atlantic region). I didn't see many people buying, and some of the vendors were quite unhappy about that. Husband enjoyed seeing the standard gauge items that he remembered from his childhood.
We would have liked to stay for the Thursday night Quaker Steak dinner, but we weren't able to this year. Hopefully next time!
We came back on Saturday to see the layouts and chat with the people that built them. I always get inspired and energized by seeing other people's creativity.
My favorite part of York was definitely the Social Media event. We are big fans of Eric's Trains, Chris' Trains and Things, JDStucks, RBP Trains, and Peachy's Trains, so I was thrilled to see all of them together in person and chat with a few of the "stars". Hubby got a free Eric's Trains tee shirt. It's great to see younger people and women promoting the hobby!
After that, we went to the Open House at the Lower Susquehanna Valley Railroad Club. We met several very friendly people there, including @3rail, who gave us lots of great advice about building our first real layout. There was also a great HO layout upstairs by another railroad club, which we viewed briefly, but we were out of time as we had to get home to let the dog out.
I hope that by the time April York rolls around, we'll be ready to shop for some buildings and scenery items. We've got a lot of work to do before then though!
Announced attendance at the business meeting was 7200 as of FRIDAY PM.
Another fabulous York Meet! For me it’s impossible to not have a great time! Seeing everyone who have become friends and meeting new friends, some great meals with a bunch of great people and of course all the trains.
For the first Meet in over twenty years I thought I wasn’t going to find anything I wanted to buy. But then, lightning struck on Saturday afternoon like it usually does. Over the years I’ve done a majority of my purchases on the last day of the Meet. I guess it’s just the way I shop. The Voices were fairly quiet this time. When you walk the many aisles full of trains all over the place it can be like being snow blind. All the boxes look the same, unless you find something special. While the Saturday ‘crowd’ was more robust than usual, it allowed me a more leisurely pace. I then discovered a few items in the Orange (dealer) Hall that I must have walked past three or four times without noticing. Since they were still available that had to mean they were meant to come home with me!! None of them was on my floating wish list.
Just when I thought I would be leaving the Meet empty handed I discovered a few items I didn’t know I needed. That’s the magic of the TCA York Meet!!!
Sunday we hang out with my new Grandson one last time before heading home Monday. He will be getting his first train. A toy train that he can learn shapes and dexterity taking it apart and rebuilding. My York treasures will arrive home later this week, thanks to the UPS table in the Silver Hall lobby!
@Traindiesel sorry I missed you this time.
@dk122trains posted:Announced attendance at the business meeting was 7200 as of FRIDAY PM.
Don, my impression was that there were more cars on the grass than the last few times. Did you get also that impression?
Peter
@Putnam Division posted:Don, my impression was that there were more cars on the grass than the last few times. Did you get also that impression?
Peter
I think they’re more or more cars in the lot in front of the orange hall. In the past few meets, I’ve only parked two rows back and this time I was three. Not scientific but I really think there are a few more cars at least.
@Putnam Division posted:Don, my impression was that there were more cars on the grass than the last few times. Did you get also that impression?
Peter
Agreed, the meet had a very positive vibe!
I thought I would share a pic of my new Long Island ES44AC, a METCA exclusive I bought from Stu at the meet.
The older I get, the more I do not care about only having specific road names. I buy what I like, prototypical or not, and my favorite color is indeed orange.
Donald
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@3rail posted:I thought I would share a pic of my new Long Island ES44AC, a METCA exclusive I bought from Stu at the meet.
The older I get, the more I do not care about only having specific road names. I buy what I like, prototypical or not, and my favorite color is indeed orange.
Donald
I don't think the LIRR will be buying any 1:1's anytime soon but it looks great. Nice to see something other than NS, or BNSF on the side.
Thanks to all for their comments and observations. I haven't made the trek yet but from reading about the Meet over the years the EDTCA seems to be rebounding from Covid well.
Bob
@Former Member posted:Yes it was dark, dreary and a bit chilly in there. If I was any of those sellers I would be more than a bit perturbed about the conditions.
100% agree. It wasn’t fair to them at all IMHO.
@dk122trains posted:Agreed, the meet had a very positive vibe!
Yes, it felt much busier than the last few events with lots of foot traffic and long lines at the concession stands.
I had planned to go back on Saturday as it’s only about an hour drive for me, but wasn’t feeling that great so I opted to stay home.
@MartyE posted:@Traindiesel sorry I missed you this time.
Marty, likewise! I didn’t want to get in the way while you were doing upgrades and I thought for sure I’d see you at some point. Hopefully in April!
@Scrambler81 posted:At 62, it still seems like I am younger than most of the guys here. Just doesn’t seem possible.
LOL. I'm almost 59, I always tell my non train friends I bring down the average age of attendance when I go.
Well jeez, then I guess I really lower the average age by showing up....
I rolled in kinda late both days. About 1145 on Thursday after a stop for brunch at the 'Clock and then Friday I was really late, rolling in about 940. Both days the parking situation seemed much tighter than the last couple of Yorks. Friday took a few rows before finally finding a spot along the grandstands. That's a positive, I suppose.
My observations of the meet was that if it was priced right and worth buying, it was gone in the first 3 hours. I'm pretty sure the guy who wanted $1600 for a Legacy 990 took it home with him. Without a list of "gotta haves" I just bought stuff I didnt know I needed if the price was right. But it seemed to me like a lot of modern items must be in in use in people's basements, because finding it there was pretty sparse. I didnt spend a dime in the member halls, saw a lot of the same stuff I'm pretty sure I've seen before.
I stayed over Friday night, which I never do, went to the Lower Susquehanna club open house across the river (worth the trip), returned and found the hotel to be nearly empty. Not sure if the meet really clears out on Friday night or if I just wasn't at a popular hotel. Saturday I did York a different way, an 11 mile run on the Heritage Rail Trail. It follows the old Northern Central line south out of York, have to cross a couple streets downtown, then past the WM freight house, the old round house and then turns into a tree lined path. Highly recommend a trip down it if you're a runner or a biker (its gravel, so probably not a road bike path). With the Northern extension, I think its almost 30 miles long.
Obviously being outside of the major demographic, interests have never really been aligned, but without a lot of the big vendors, and the layout supply booths like Scenic Express, Spring York is likely going to become a Thursday day trip for me. I didnt see much on Friday that I didn't see Thursday, and like I said, most of the good stuff was gone Thursday anyways.
