Allentown's OGR Spring Thaw Breakfast

Latest word from the weather folks is 2-4" of snow for the Philly area starting between 2pm-4pm.  That's easy to remember.   Lehigh Valley may get 3-6".

 

A good day to get there early.  Should be a packed morning!!!

 

David

Please add me to the list.  I'm a long time attendee of the Spring Thaw Meet but have never attended the breakfast but this time it appears a real early start will be a must. 

          OKHIKER (Mike)

I don't blame you Scott, you'd surely be going back in messy weather.  I figure to be leaving around noon to go to the NPOG open house, so I don't think I'll be hitting much weather until I am going home from there.

 

Chuck, please add me to the breakfast list.  I'm normally not an "early bird", but this time it will be prudent to enjoy the show along with some terrific breakfast company on the early side of the day!   

 

If you still have them, I'll also buy an early-bird ticket from you as well.

 

David

Ted,

Thanks for the update on the parking lot.  Chuck, please save me a ticket also.

John

Oh, I want the early ticket as well, I don't know if I mentioned that!

 

 

That hot coffee will be really appreciated in the morning. Everybody should use their own judgement about travel, but it seems the early birds at breakfast usually make tracks by early afternoon anyway. The snow, coming from west to east, should be less of a factor for youse guys from the east. Enjoy!

Is it too late to jump in on the breakfast? Since my wife can't go, I can get out of here nice and early tomorrow.

 

Chris R.

 

 

We won't be there...  

Sorry to hear that. They team will be missed.

Chuck, see what happens when  you  get cold food.  Lol

Purchased my pre-show tickets at Philly TCA show in early January but now with storm forecasted to arrive and exit area sooner than previously thought with snow to  begin before noon and be done and gone by Sunday, I'm wondering, "Will show's organizers either honor those Saturday pre-show tickets for admission on Sunday instead or possibly even offer a refund on those tickets if not used?" Also, will North Penn O Gaugers open house possibly be rescheduled if very few people attend on Saturday due to the stormy weather?

Well, we have all the food and the like for the NPOG open house, so we're treating it like the postal service, the trains must go through!

 

It's only 3-6 inches of snow.  Fellow forumites in NE are laughing at us now...lol

-Greg

Sorry we won't be at Allentown, the roads were so bad in NE Ohio this morning that the risk was too great for us.  The first 100 miles on Rt 80 is a real zoo, no matter what the weather is like in Allentown.

 

Don and I will miss you, but it was the prudent thing to do. Drat!

 

Ed and Don

Chuck,

 

Regretfully, I have to delist myself. It turns out my wife has to work tomorrow and I'll never find a sitter to come in so early on short notice. I'm really bummed as I was looking forward to meeting so many forum members in person.

 

Any chance we can change the date to Sunday?

 

I'm sure to be missing out on a fun event--have a great time everyone!

 

Jim

Don't feel bad. With all the snow you've had and the long distance to travel staying home is a no brainer.

-Greg

Missing the show this weekend.  Booooo. Work work work work work

Chuck, et.al.

I'm going to try and join up with everyone for breakfast, Pease put me on the list.  Its less than a 90 min. drive from the Poconos so I'm not too worried about the weather (We're used to it). And I am planning to visit the NPOG gathering if the weather doesn't get too far out of hand.  Both are firsts for me and I am looking forward to seeing everyone.  

Peace,

Conductor Earl Trygar

To answer a question asked a couple replies up.  Preregistered tickets (earlybird tickets) are good for either Saturday or Sunday.   We do not give refunds for unused preregistered tickets.  We also don't charge extra for those tickets so we consider the risk the trade off. 

 

Sorry to hear the OGR gang can't make it.  A visit from Sir Edward of Boyle is always the highlight of the weekend! 

 

Do we still want to do the picture at 11:00 or will everyone be too busy rushing around so they can bolt for home by noon? 

 

 

I think we should still do the 11am photo, just to show who was brave enough to stay.

Be safe, everyone! Have fun....

Peter

 

If there's room
For one more - I'd like to
Join as the guy who couldn't sleep this morning (and also wants an early bird ticket)

Where the heck is Devlin?? We're all here waiting for breakfast!

Everyone is bummed Jessica isn't gracing us with her presence. 

-Greg

Hey Guys,

Sorry I couldn't make it.  Dealing with a little vertigo and decided not to chance driving.  Besides I didn't want to loose my balance and dump Houser's breakfast all over him!!!

Have fun.  Thanks again Chuck for arranging this.

John

Sorry to hear that!  BTW....everyone said they'd have loved to see that!

-Greg

my roller skate has summer tires and does not even like flurries. even just plain old cold weather plays havoc with traction. wish i could have been there. I was looking forward to Maryann's donuts

 

Ed and Don made it to the Spring Thaw Train Meet!  They do seem awfully quiet today but I'm not sure that's a bad thing! 

Sorry about the goof ups.  I'm fighting with an old netbook on a slow network and a cranky camera.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

I sent this to Chuck last night, around Midnight.

 

"Just got home from MA, visiting our Grandchildren, everything was good time wise until they closed RT 91 at New haven. 

Regards to all who meet for breakfast.  Hope everyone has a great day and that they find great deals."

My friend and his wife were already back home before noon! They stopped to pick up some produce, and had lunch on the way back. It had just started snowing when the y arrived back in Mountain Top. Theresa and I were supposed to go down with them, but we just didn't feel it fitting after my brother's funeral yeaterday.

Don

Just made it back home in Doylestown around 12:15 and hit some snow squalls on the way back between Quakertown and Doylestown.  Nothing that caused driving issues... just light fluffy snow blowing around on the roads.  But I've been home for about 30 minutes now and the snow is now much more steady and sticking to our neighborhood streets.

 

So be careful driving at this point, folks!!!

 

The show was only lightly attended during the 2+ hours I was there... basically 8 to 10:15am.  I'm never an early-bird by habit, but today it came in handy to get there early -- not to mention it was nice meeting up with some old and new friends for breakfast at the Hamilton diner.  And thanks again to Chuck for organizing the event and having early-bird tickets on hand.

 

I'm sure weather affected attendance big time today.  Perhaps tomorrow will be better -- only rain is expected early in the day, then clearing up considerably.  The sun may even make an appearance.  Great having breakfast and meeting old and new friends at the Hamilton diner.

 

Interesting thing I noticed was the "passing of the batons" so to speak for a couple of dealers.  I missed seeing Chris from Nicholas Smith Trains -- one of his associates was holding down the fort.  Same with Joe Sr. of Grzyboski trains -- his three sons were taking care of business at the Grzyboski trains booth, where I was able to pick up something they brought to the show for me.  That's the second time they've been nice enough to do that, so I saved a few $$$ on shipping.

 

Several years ago, Nicholas Smith Trains took over Charlie Ro's long-standing booth space at the show.  And now it seems some of the "senior" dealers are opting to watch their storefront at home rather than attend the show.  Nonetheless, not one booth seemed empty... so sellers on the show's waiting-list must have stepped in for those who didn't make it.

 

Next show... YORK!!! 

 

David

 

 

David,

Obviously you missed the crowds.  At 11:30 this place was packed!  I had trouble moving from the back to the front of the hall.  Of course now that it's snowing rather heavily the crowd had thinned out quite a bit.

 

Sorry to hear, John.  Hope you're feeling better.

 

- Mike

Too bad I didn't know...I could've picked you up a doggie bag!

I attended my first OGR breakfast at the Hamilton and the food, service and conversation were top rate.  Getting into the meet at 8:00 AM was a treat and enabled me to scrutinize everything very carefully before the crowd thickened.  I had a good trip and spent a lot more than I intended to but am very satisfied on my day's take.  Since the drive home to South jersey is a little over two hours I booked out at 10:30 AM and reached home at about 12:45 PM just when it started snowing.  For once it was good timing on my part but I wish I could have stayed longer.  This was my 25th Allentown train meet and its just about as good now as it was back in 1990.