Photos, Time Changes for York

Marty: I am SOOOOOO with you on this attitude!

- walt

Well Thursday opening time is a moot point anyway. That was not one of the items on the questionnaire so we "drivers" are safe for now

As for the importance of being there at opening bell, there are just certain people with certain wanted items that know for a fact they usually disappear within the first hour. A perfect example are the discount Atlas items that Andy mentioned. For me personally it's the harder to find K-Line and Golden Gate Depot passenger cars. For the longest time I have been after the add-on 2-pack for my K-Line 1948 20th Century Limited. At the last show I spotted one within the first five minutes of opening in the Orange Hall. The price was absurd so I passed on it, but another 5 minutes later it was gone. Turned out to be the only one at the show too. Would have only been snatched up faster (by me) if the price was better.

There are tables still covered over at noon on Thursday...why is that?

Because the sellers have not arrived yet.

Some years back, I did see some "scantily dressed girls" at York one October. They were in bikinis, and hanging on the sides of some kind of classic convertible (don't remember much about the car). Don't know who the late-middle-aged driver was, but I do remember the anatomical term used by some as he drove by. It looked like an ad for Viagra.

As far as opening time goes, Nick / PC9850 is right: there's things you only see for the first walk down the aisle. If the meet opened at 3 AM, I'd be there.

Opening time?

I'd also prefer an earlier start.

How about a compromise between 9 and 12? Make it 10. 

For some, it's part of the York "experience," I suppose.   For others, it IS the York experience since many of them have never even been there. 

Arrived from where? The tables have stuff on them, but they are covered. There were at least 4 in the Orange Hall last Fall.

Those sellers are out shopping for hard-to-find items on other tables that can only be had at the opening bell.

Bill

OK, makes sense, thanks. If I saw something (while setting up) I really wanted I'd do the same thing.

Joe, you know as well as I that on Thursday the line is long waiting for scrapple to go!

As far as photos, I also would like to see the ban lifted.  There is some great scenery and modeling ideas that I would like to have pics of to help me with my own layout.

You guy's just don't understand, collectors don't want you to take pictures of there trains.

On photos being allowed to be taken, if approved this would only be allowed in the dealer halls.

The question about tables being covered just means that the person who's tables they are, are not there. No trading or buying is allowed to happen before noon.

I have a question about the start time on Thursday. if the show opens at 9, why would it make a difference if you walked in at 11. is there a prize for getting there first?   and why would the kosher bbq be canceled if the show started early? can't you walk out of the show and eat and chat with friends and then go back in?

With covered tables in the ORANGE (dealer) halls...can't dealers set up early,

and then go home, or back to their business, and float back in whenever they feel

like it?   And maybe they are selling a service like the art and painter people, and

aren't worried about property getting liberated.  As for opening early, this is like

trying to get mfrs. to make something we want by discussing it on here...it is beating

a dead horse.

 Originally Posted by JohnS:

This question has already been answered. Read my last post.

Why?  They scared?  They doing something illegal? 

quote:

why would the kosher bbq be canceled if the show started early?

Just a guess: the fellow running it wants to roam the halls, not watch a barbeque once the show opens.

Here's an idea:  Open the Orange, Purple, and Brown Halls at 10 a.m. and leave the other halls locked up until noon.  Those three halls are almost entirely dealer halls (or should/could be), and most everybody in those halls should be ready to go by 10. 

That way, sellers from the other halls can visit the dealer halls, if they care to, before the full meet opens instead of dragging their butts over to the Orange Hall at 5 p.m. on Thursday (the time those other halls close).  ALL halls could then close up at 5 p.m. (or 6 at the latest) on Thursday, leaving more time for social activities.

Gotta vote nay. The Orange Hall is the one I rush through at opening time to catch all the steals / scarcities before others do. If they were to do this I would have to start my drive from NY at 4 AM, yuck.

I'm also still not sure why opening time has come under such fire in this thread. It's not even on the questionnaire so it's not gonna happen anyway...

quote:

Here's an idea:  Open the Orange, Purple, and Brown Halls at 10 a.m. and leave the other halls locked up until noon.  Those three halls are almost entirely dealer halls (or should/could be), and most everybody in those halls should be ready to go by 10. 

There are plenty of collector trains in the dealer halls too. It isn't all vendors of new / recently made merchandise. And what about the recent production bargain hunters?

My proposal is to keep the noon opening on Thursday, but all dealer and member halls will remain open until noon on Sunday.  Table holders will be required to remain at their tables until noon on Sunday (under armed surveillance).

The Meet would open to the public at 8am on Sunday to satisfy all those members who frequently request it.  They will be required to pay the Pa. tax man for all Sunday sales.

This way, if I can't sleep I can put on my shoes and head to the Fairgrounds at 3am if I so desire to do some shopping.  After all, it's all about me, right?   

Yes. I can think of a few neat things I've bought within the first half-hour of opening that I doubt would have been there much longer. I'm sure some others could make the same claim.

You expect Mike to sit in the parking lot all morning waiting for you to pick up a free hot dog?

This thread is getting to be B**L S**T. 

Bowl Spit? 

Ball Soot?

Jerry

Maintain your cool, Eddie!  Just a friendly little discussion among friends, and of no real consequence.  

This needs to be restated for the people who missed all the similar comments:

quote:

Yes. I can think of a few neat things I've bought within the first half-hour of opening that I doubt would have been there much longer. I'm sure some others could make the same claim.

Agreed.

To put it in the minds of those who "don't collect", lets say there's a Milwaukee Road S-3 on someone's table for near or slightly below original issue price.

Assuming it s not beat to death and it runs, it will be gone within the 1st hour, if not sooner.

The same applies to many items, and they weren't all made before 1969 either!

While we obviously all aren't going to get such a find every time, enough different such situations pop up that it pays to be the early bird. 

-Dave

Precisely what Andy and I were trying to say earlier, guess all these folks still pushing for earlier start times just ignored it? 

At the last York I scooped up a major deal from Vince's trains within the first hour. It was Golden Gate Depot's 5-car articulated Daylight set brand new in the box, a scarce item by now and below original MSRP to boot. There were a number of people already looking it up and down when I got there, basically had to shout I'll take it while they were still deciding. Would have absolutely been gone in the next hour had I not caught it.

Okay, so let's assume that you absolutely, definitely, must be there when the doors open to snag those elusive/rare/etc. items that will otherwise be scarfed-up by equally eager others.  So what does that have to do with the opening time for the meet, at least as it affects the majority of attendees?  

Meet opens at noon; you get there at 11:45.  Opens at 10; you get there at 9:45.  You go to sleep two hours earlier the night before; get up two hours earlier on Thursday morning; and haul your butt to the York fairgrounds.  The meet isn't just about YOU, after all; it's about some 12,000 other folks as well.  

I have noticed, though, that the throng of folks chomping at the bit waiting to charge into the halls has been somewhat diminished in recent years.  There still are groups assembled outside the hall entrances, of course, but their numbers are much smaller than I remember from back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

[Just an attempt to keep "York fever" going.  I do love a good non-consequential controversy. ]

Funny thing is there's no controversy to speak of. Thursday opening time was not on the questionnaire, so changing it ain't gonna happen anyway. Problem solved! 

quote:

Meet opens at noon; you get there at 11:45.  Opens at 10; you get there at 9:45.  You go to sleep two hours earlier the night before; get up two hours earlier on Thursday morning; and haul your butt to the York fairgrounds.  The meet isn't just about YOU, after all; it's about some 12,000 other folks as well.   

The same applies for the few folks here who complain about the noon opening hours.

The meet just isn't about YOU EITHER.

ok its settled NO CHANGES. I agree with current arrangement Thursday is my drive time so noon suits me fine