@rplst8 posted:I’m pretty sure the manufacturers like Lionel, Atlas, and Williams and magazines like OGR weren’t doing much selling when the event was bigger/younger.
It should be the big manufacturers acting as stewards of the hobby that are trying to get younger folks into the hobby.
The TCA only sells memberships… The manufacturers are the ones that need people to be interested enough to buy products.
Anyway, the holes left by OGR, Lionel, and others are now mostly filled with more dealers. So there are more trains to buy!
Actually you raise a great point regarding the manufacturers need to drive the hobby not the TCA. In many ways the manufacturers are. The lower end Train Sets offered by Lionel with ‘themed subjects’ is their way to attract the young. I suppose. Some of the YouTube authors might be bringing in the young also.
Me being an ‘old crusty guy’, I have noticed significant changes in York with respect to Product, Vendors, and Attendance. Even Significant changes with me. The Eastern Division York Show has less Product, less Vendors and less attendance and each year is less than the previous . My first York was in 1987 and I religiously attended every York until Covid and finally I think my last was 2022. I was a fervent Lionel Postwar collector, that meant being at York on a Tuesday and starting at 5 or 6 am at the ‘Billy Bud’ parking lot. Flashlights in hand and actually fighting a crowd. Then hunting for a new seller to drive into the parking lot at the Holiday Inn, swooping in to see what Postwar goodies might be there. Those were the days. I have since sold my postwar collection and transitioned to Operating with Lionel VisionLine and Legacy. By changing what I now collect there are many opportunities available to me outside of York. Also hunting for NEW Trains is more of a leisurely sport. So, for me, York has lost some luster because of what I now collect and because of changing times. I do agree, York is an opportunity to meet friends and others. I think managing my expectations helps to accept what York has become.