@colorado hirailer posted:

I missed the Yellow Hall, not realizing it was open....so, what was in it?

Well, the one thing that was in the Yellow Hall was the only item I purchased, the Lionel Legacy Santa Fe Northern that I was looking for.

@colorado hirailer posted:

I missed the Yellow Hall, not realizing it was open....so, what was in it?

I heard there were lots and lots of THOSE in there!!

@Lionelski posted:

@colorado hirailer posted:

"I missed the Yellow Hall, not realizing it was open....so, what was in it?"

I was good to be visiting the Yellow hall again - it was closed 20 years ago. A lot brighter than I recall, painted over windows were now clear and the hall was a lot cleaner than I remembered too.

I stopped in Wednesday afternoon to visit the TCA booth and bought a lot of paper from the library. Also chatted with friends from METCA division.

Went back on Thursday but did not buy anything from the vendors - not that there was not a lot for sale, just not what I wanted or needed.

Yes, a stop in Yellow is worth the time and effort

I definitely agree on Yellow being worth visiting.  Also liked the idea of putting the TCA sales area at the fairgrounds - no parking problems, and hopefully the greater exposure led to more sales for TCA.

As you mentioned, it seemed nice and bright in there.  However, I'm not sure if that was due to fresh paint and  better lighting or because the sun was shining through the windows - the lights seemed a bit skimpy.

It seemed like there was an announcement made every 30 minutes to make sure and visit the yellow hall because there were 180 vendors to visit.  I didn’t count, but all my best purchases came from the yellow hall.

@Keith k posted:

It seemed like there was an announcement made every 30 minutes to make sure and visit the yellow hall because there were 180 vendors to visit.  I didn’t count, but all my best purchases came from the yellow hall.

I was planning to make that same comment about those frequent Yellow hall announcements but I questioned the accuracy of the vendor count.  I was in there only on Wednesday for the TCA Sale and I don't understand how 180 vendors could be in there.

Anyway, on the positive side, I had a table in the blue hall and sold very well.  I think it was a very successful event given the situation and a downsized York is certainly better than none at all!  The $5.00 per person Tuesday welcome party exceeded expectations and one of our local Florida guys attending York for the first time won the Big Boy!

Thank you to the Eastern Division and all the volunteers that helped to make this a very good and worthwhile event!

Bill

I just returned from the meet Saturday evening, having had a really fun time there, and have just read through this thread. My overall impression of the meet is that it was significantly better than I expected, in virtually every way. EDTCA volunteers deserve a whole lot of credit for organizing and conducting a meet like this in what are still somewhat unusual times and circumstances.

Virtually all of the dealers I spoke with over my three days there reported that they were doing, or had already done, very well from the standpoint of sales. In part, that was likely due to some of the "major players" not being at the event, and the smaller dealers almost certainly reaped the benefit. For me, a real highlight was hearing from Steve Breneisson (Ross Custom Switches) that he virtually sold out of product and has a pile of orders that will keep him and his folks busy through the winter and beyond. That tells me that people are working on, or building layouts, and that bodes very well for the O gauge segment of the hobby. After all, folks don't collect track; they buy it to use it. My guess is that Atlas and GarGraves--two other major track suppliers--would also have benefited from being at York since a number of attendees ask me if they were there.

Overall, I think it was a fine meet, and the actual attendance figure doesn't mean much to me one way or another in light of the times we are living in. I certainly saw lots of people hauling boxes out to load in their cars and then returning to the halls for more buying. And I was part of that action, having bought more at this meet than I have at any York meet in the past decade or so.

Best of all, of course, was having the opportunity to meet up with old friends and even make some new friends. This truly is the world's greatest hobby, and many of the world's greatest people are participants.

I noticed other folks were sold out as well.  I bought Glen Snyder shelves for delivery, and they were almost totally sold out on Friday morning of all the York stock they brought!

Any York is a good York, and this one was no exception.

@WftTrains posted:

I was planning to make that same comment about those frequent Yellow hall announcements but I questioned the accuracy of the vendor count.  I was in there only on Wednesday for the TCA Sale and I don't understand how 180 vendors could be in there.

Anyway, on the positive side, I had a table in the blue hall and sold very well.  I think it was a very successful event given the situation and a downsized York is certainly better than none at all!  The $5.00 per person Tuesday welcome party exceeded expectations and one of our local Florida guys attending York for the first time won the Big Boy!

Thank you to the Eastern Division and all the volunteers that helped to make this a very good and worthwhile event!

Bill

Initially, the announcements said that there were 180 vendors - later amended to say 180 vendor tables.

This is all we needed to hear.

@NYC Fan posted:

I was happy to be at York, mostly because I got to see many of the friends that I haven't seen since Oct 2019. I was sad that many didn't come but I totally understand. I missed the big dealers as most of my train budget is spent on the modern era, Lionel Legacy in particular. Their absence did force me to do something I hadn't done in probably the last 20 York Meets, I actually went through every hall. 11,000 steps, 5.5 miles. And, as my friends used to say, as long as you come home with one nice find it was a good York. I came home with two beautiful Milwaukee Road Atlas O woodside reefers, already added to my layout, and in doing so spent an enjoyable half hour talking to Bob Lavezzi of the NY Society of Model Engineers.

For me it wasn't quite as good as past Yorks, but it was certainly good to be back and hopefully it's the start of the full recovery of the greatest train meet in the world.

I actually took some time looking over some of the Atlas reefers in a few different spots. I finally walked away from two of the vendors that had high prices, one which was very high the other probably just about or close to what should be. I walked towards the front of the Orange Hall and looked over the third vendors stuff. Wound up buying 3 reefers and 1 single sheetfed boxcar. That was Friday. Saturday before I left I bought 2 more over in the Purple Hall, about the same good pricing as the guy I bought off of the day before. These are the first Atlas cars in my collection, and since they are steam era cars, perfect for me.

With those bought and the MTH NYC Madison passenger cars, it made for a very great York for me. Having a good amount of money leftover and being able to make buys on each day(and not say I spent more money on food/drink than on train stuff is a good day indeed). I also bought stuff at the Ross booth, but had wanted more stuff from there. Like Allan said, for them to be busy and behind shows some good signs for the hobby.

One other thing that is a pretty good sign is the future. Many remember a few years ago there was a topic about younger generations not being into the hobby like most of the older folks in it. This time around at the pre-York breakfast we had two much younger people who are on YouTube and have pretty good channels promoting the hobby.

They were happy to have breakfast with us older folks, and equally excited IMO to get into York. Having run into Sean, Chris and Jason a few times, it is clear to me that these three are full in on the hobby, and have started those great friendships that only the hobby and York bring. Sean had posted on his second video that he was done and was going to take Saturday off, he didn't need to come back. When I saw him Saturday morning I started laughing. I talked to him and he said something about he had to come back. Chris was also there Saturday but unsure if Jason was.

Either way, these young guys and their friends have made great York memories, and more to come. I am speaking of Sean of Sean's Trains, Chris of RBP Trains(I think is his channel), and Jason is JDStucks on YouTube.

It was great to see those old friends of mine, even though this is only my fourth York. I even find time to sit down(a few times) and just talk to some people who like me were taking a break. Whether talking trains, pizza, or just about sore feet from walking, it was and always will be a great time in my opinion. I don't think I have had a bad York experience, only it being cancelled(like others would agree). I even got some time to talk with Allan and Dave for a bit. It is always good to chat up for a spell while you are waiting to move to your next potential purchase.

When I got back last night I was not feeling well.  I had chills, a headache, and something wasn't sitting right.  This morning I took a test and the doctor confirmed the worst.  I had post York fever and the only cure was more trains.  BTW I already got my badge for April 2022!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, the one thing that was in the Yellow Hall was the only item I purchased, the Lionel Legacy Santa Fe Northern that I was looking for.

Ah, that's right. I sort of forgot where you had said you got it.

Some miscellaneous photos, in no particular order, taken at the York Meet. Note that a number of them were taken in the Orange Hall before the meet actually opened, hence the lack of shoppers.

@Allan Miller posted:

Some miscellaneous photos, in no particular order, taken at the York Meet. Note that a number of them were taken in the Orange Hall before the meet actually opened, hence the lack of shoppers.

Quite a lot of sales happened as I remember some tables full my first walk through, next day quite a bit less, Saturday, some almost bare. All I can add further to what I've said already, everything was great, better than my expectations in my head. So much to see, and the right amount of time.

From my POV as a seller in Blue Hall, it was a very good York.  People were definitely in a buying mood... or maybe my prices were too low...

I had a great time and even managed to find some treasures to bring home.  It was great seeing so many of the forum friends I've made over the years, and meeting a bunch of new ones as well.

As always, it went by way too fast, and I'm already planning for April!

Andy

@Allan Miller posted:

What's in the box?

@MartyE posted:

What's in the box?

The young fellow told me, Marty, but for the life of me I can't remember. It's a locomotive, but I can't recall which one. He is a participant with the Chesapeake group whose sign is in the background.

What are the dates for the Spring '22 meet?

April 28, 29 , 30, 2022

thank you @Bruce Brown

I am one of the newcomers to York and just my opinion but the fact that it could be held and that there was so much to see is a win in itself. Given where we are with Covid, where people still have concerns, I thought it was a pretty healthy turnout. My impression is what others have said on this thread, that most of what I saw for sale was post war/pre war through MPC era, there wasn't as much of 'modern' equipment. Prices for the most part to my (inexperienced) eyes looked decent, I did see some stuff that made me shake my head, like one guy with a sign on a ZW "hot bargain, 160, regularly 200" (ZW's could be had for 100 bucks), and others who were I suspect despite being TCA members were dealers who bought out someone's estate and were trying to get 1990's prices (this was in Purple Hall I think.).  For me the way York is laid out kind of worked out nicely, it was nice weather and it forced me to walk, so that was good, too. Honestly given what I saw there I think York will be in good shape once things really get back to normal.

I also was kind of blown away by the modular standard gauge layout, I had never really noticed standard gauge before and was kind of blown away by it, the trains really are pieces of art (to me). I ended up buying a 1925 engine no 8, not to run it, but because for some reason it touched me that this was something a kid had played with nearly 100 years ago. I am not a collector per se, but for whatever reasons wanted it to display...so I guess you can say it changed me.

I do want to give a shoutout to the people running this, they did a great job, and having done volunteer work like this it can be one of the most thankless things you can do, I made it a point to try and thank the EDTCA people I ran into (sometimes literally).

About the only thing I would say to the folks running York and even other train shows is finding a way to make it easier for dealers and people with tables to accept credit cards and the like. Given how expensive this stuff is, it is kind of clunky to have to carry around a lot of cash and the ATM machines have limits on how much you can take out (I know, this is nothing new). You don't even have to use credit cards, it is possible to use payment vendors like Venmo to send money via email for example. I think people would make a lot more sales if that was made easier,especially if they want to attract younger people, where cash transactions are not all that common.

Overall I enjoyed it and hopefully I can make the April show.

@Andy Hummell posted:

From my POV as a seller in Blue Hall, it was a very good York.  People were definitely in a buying mood... or maybe my prices were too low...

Good idea for a new thread before the next York. Forum members who are selling tell us what hall and what table so we can stop by to shop and chat. Maybe this was already a thing and I missed it?

@Andy Hummell posted:

From my POV as a seller in Blue Hall, it was a very good York.  People were definitely in a buying mood... or maybe my prices were too low...

Speaking as someone who bought an item off your table, IMO your items were in the middle - not going to fly off the table, but priced fairly to have room to negotiate.  And it was nice to meet someone who posts frequently on the forum.

My impression was that asking prices in general were more reasonable than in the past, and people were more willing to negotiate.  I'm always amazed and amused by the folks who put outrageous prices on items - if someone isn't interested in selling, why bother sitting there for 2-1/2 days? 

@Jameszz posted:

Good idea for a new thread before the next York. Forum members who are selling tell us what hall and what table so we can stop by to shop and chat. Maybe this was already a thing and I missed it?

People have started those in the past.  I'm guessing that nobody did it this time since a lot of people made a last minute decision about going.  Also, the ED folks were scrambling to make the table assignment, so a lot of folks might not have known where they were going to be located.

I'm thrilled to hear about how York has bounced back,sounds like prices were right,sales were brisk and both buyers and sellers were happy. I had tickets purchased and even hotel reservations made (Since June) but had to cancel six weeks ago when a big project came up in South Korea for a client in Australia. There was a train related consolation - I rode Korail KTX high speed trains all over South Korea. They have a fantastic,world class high speed rail system,as good as Japan,France and Germany. I've now made my hotel reservations for April 2022 and plan to attend. I'm excited!

@MartyE posted:

Grybowski (sp) was the only big dealer.

There is actual some good reports here. I’m not sure what your looking for? The tinplate layout was definitely a highlight.

Marty:

Trainworld cancelled on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, as Ken was not feeling well. That was the only real surprise among the large train dealers. We knew in advance that CharlesRo and Nicholas Smith would not be there. Mr. Muffin, Stockyard Express and Trainz were in the Orange Hall along with Grzyboski, and Just Trains was in the Purple Hall.

Pat

Day 2 at York...Carol and I hit the Red, White, and Orange halls starting around 8:30 AM.    Got my second (and last) purchase in the White hall...a MTH Premier set of three slag cars (no company markings) for a very fair price (had been looking at getting this set on and off for the last five years).  Carol bought a variety of brightly lit toy cars for our grandkids from the vendor at the south end of the Orange hall...and that (including lunch from the food trucks) wrapped up York for us...on the road around 12:30 PM. 

Observations...

1) heard a lot of favorable comments from fellow Yorkers on the widening of the aisles in the halls...more time to view the wares; less time fighting the crowds.

2) A lot of younger folks (and their kids) in attendance...nice to see.

3) Liked the Yellow hall...particularly the vendor who had a lot of books and written material on toy trains and layouts (some dating back to the 1930s)...regret not buying some of them.

4)  Merchandise was heavily tilted towards Lionel O Gauge Postwar, MPC, LTI, and MTH (sure was sad not seeing their big booth and Mike in attendance).  As a Pre/Postwar lover, this suited me just fine...but I understand where a modern-era runner would be disappointed at the lack of state of the art things for sale this time around.

5)  Saw a lot of S gauge in all the member halls.  Lesser amounts of Prewar O Gauge tinplate and Standard gauge.

6)  Eastern Division did a superb job planning and executing this York under extremely difficult conditions...well done to them all!

Hope to be back to York this coming April!  John

@Mallard4468 posted:

Speaking as someone who bought an item off your table, IMO your items were in the middle - not going to fly off the table, but priced fairly to have room to negotiate.  And it was nice to meet someone who posts frequently on the forum.

My impression was that asking prices in general were more reasonable than in the past, and people were more willing to negotiate.  I'm always amazed and amused by the folks who put outrageous prices on items - if someone isn't interested in selling, why bother sitting there for 2-1/2 days?

I try to price all my items with room to negotiate, as about 90-95% of buyers in the member halls haggle on prices, and I am no different when buying, so being in the middle is where I want to be so I have that room to negotiate.  I think that this trip, only 3 buyers paid the asking price, and they bought single, lower-priced items.

I am convinced that many of the people with the outrageous prices are there mostly to socialize with their friends and couldn't care less if they sell anything.  And that is OK with me, as I enjoy looking at their stuff, and that doesn't cost a cent.

I probably met a half-dozen forum members for the first time this trip just from them recognizing my name from my badge.  That is another fun aspect of being a table-holder.  I've met so many interesting people, and had many interesting conversations over the years.

Andy

@bigkid posted:

About the only thing I would say to the folks running York and even other train shows is finding a way to make it easier for dealers and people with tables to accept credit cards and the like. Given how expensive this stuff is, it is kind of clunky to have to carry around a lot of cash and the ATM machines have limits on how much you can take out (I know, this is nothing new). You don't even have to use credit cards, it is possible to use payment vendors like Venmo to send money via email for example. I think people would make a lot more sales if that was made easier,especially if they want to attract younger people, where cash transactions are not all that common.

Overall I enjoyed it and hopefully I can make the April show.

Just as an aside, there are apps one can download for free to their cellphone (Square is one of them) and set up an account to accept credit card payments through your cellphone. All you need is a bank account and a cellphone.

No reason the EDTCA people need to get involved - any dealer/seller can easily set up such an account to accept credit card payments themselves.

@Andy Hummell posted:

I try to price all my items with room to negotiate, as about 90-95% of buyers in the member halls haggle on prices, and I am no different when buying, so being in the middle is where I want to be so I have that room to negotiate.  I think that this trip, only 3 buyers paid the asking price, and they bought single, lower-priced items.

I am convinced that many of the people with the outrageous prices are there mostly to socialize with their friends and couldn't care less if they sell anything.  And that is OK with me, as I enjoy looking at their stuff, and that doesn't cost a cent.

I probably met a half-dozen forum members for the first time this trip just from them recognizing my name from my badge.  That is another fun aspect of being a table-holder.  I've met so many interesting people, and had many interesting conversations over the years.

Andy

In my case I bought an item I already owned and forgot I did!  I bet no one else has ever done that before. 

-Greg

@Greg Houser posted:

In my case I bought an item I already owned and forgot I did!  I bet no one else has ever done that before. 

-Greg

Did the same thing myself--at this very same event--and will now try to find a buyer for it.

@Greg Houser posted:

In my case I bought an item I already owned and forgot I did!  I bet no one else has ever done that before. 

-Greg

I can guarantee that there is usually one such item on my tables each York.  That is where having tables comes in handy. 

Andy

Bottom line, York is an earthly glimpse of Heaven.

@Greg Houser posted:

In my case I bought an item I already owned and forgot I did!  I bet no one else has ever done that before. 

-Greg

I have, Greg, EVEN TOUGH I carry a 16 page EXCEL listing of my inventory.

The last time I had transposed a number and thought it was a different item I was looking at.

ALSO, often I'll knowingly buy a duplicate item thinking that it is in better condition than the one I had  - only to find that the opposite was true when I got home.

I've had great success selling these duplicate items on this Forum's For sale or Trade section. A wonderful perk for being here.

This was my first ever York and I had a blast! Met so many folks (including many on this forum thanks to the OGR breakfast). Loved spending time with vendors, other hobbyists and I hauled WAYYYY too many trains away from that show.

- Chris (RBP Trains)

@Chris1985 posted:

This was my first ever York and I had a blast! Met so many folks (including many on this forum thanks to the OGR breakfast). Loved spending time with vendors, other hobbyists and I hauled WAYYYY too many trains away from that show.

- Chris (RBP Trains)

Enjoyed meeting you (and Jason).  Also appreciate your latest YouTube video where you show the pile of stuff you brought home from York - this was especially helpful because it was bigger than my stash.  "Bbbbut mom, look what the other kids did..."

@bigkid posted:

...I do want to give a shoutout to the people running this, they did a great job, and having done volunteer work like this it can be one of the most thankless things you can do, I made it a point to try and thank the EDTCA people I ran into (sometimes literally).

About the only thing I would say to the folks running York and even other train shows is finding a way to make it easier for dealers and people with tables to accept credit cards and the like. Given how expensive this stuff is, it is kind of clunky to have to carry around a lot of cash and the ATM machines have limits on how much you can take out (I know, this is nothing new). You don't even have to use credit cards, it is possible to use payment vendors like Venmo to send money via email for example. I think people would make a lot more sales if that was made easier,especially if they want to attract younger people, where cash transactions are not all that common...

Re showing appreciation, I'd like to encourage everyone to send an email to Mike Petronella (contact info on EDTCA's website) - I don't know how many of the meet volunteers are on this forum, so they might not know how much we appreciate the effort.

Re the payment situation, vendors that run as a business have many options for non-cash payments if they choose, but there are several reasons why sellers often prefer cash - no fees, simplified bookkeeping, and privacy.  And from a buyer standpoint, cash helps with budgeting and negotiating, and some folks don't want their significant other to know how much they spent.  In addition, many dealers will discount to "pay the tax" when cash is used - on a $1000 purchase, this amounts to $60.  I don't know about you, but I'd rather buy another boxcar than send that money to the PA dept. of revenue.

It's 6 months until April; start building that stash of cash now...

@Arthur posted:

Bottom line, York is an earthly glimpse of Heaven.

God (no pun intended) I hope not.  Hate to think of the possibility that “Heaven used to be so much better.  You should have seen it ten years ago when it was REALLY Heaven.”  

@Richie C. posted:

Just as an aside, there are apps one can download for free to their cellphone (Square is one of them) and set up an account to accept credit card payments through your cellphone. All you need is a bank account and a cellphone.

No reason the EDTCA people need to get involved - any dealer/seller can easily set up such an account to accept credit card payments themselves.

I agree, the point is there are a variety of ways to get payment these days, including paypal, venmo, and yep, with a gizmo attached to a phone you can accept credit cards or debit cards. Maybe it is just that the dealers at York (and other shows) are kind of old school, but it def makes it harder to buy what are often big ticket items. I definitely think it would help sales a great deal, might not be so good on the pocketbooks of the buyers and might cause friction back home.

I drove from Phoenix (actually west of) to York.  I haven't been there since I moved out west.  I have actually moved back east.  I downsized from a 3000 sq ft house to a less than 10 x 10 bedroom in my daughter's house, so currently no room for a train layout.

However, my visit to York was a pleasant one.  I met up with friends I have not seen for many years.  Sadly, one of our friends, and an OGR Forum member passed away on Thursday right before the meet.  He had reserved tables at York!

So despite who was missing, I found that I did not have enough time to wander through all of the halls.  There were tons of vendors. So much to see!  I arrived on Friday, which cut out a lot of browsing time. I found 2 items I did not know I was looking for!  Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse high cube boxcars that used to sell for $200 each were only $25 each!  That completed that set for me.  Now I can sell it as a complete collection. Got a couple of K-Line ceramic train houses, something else I didn't know I was looking for.  I like them because they make setting up a train around a tree easier, with these sturdy and well decorated pieces.  I really wanted to buy a Lionel K-4 decorated for the head of a funeral train, from Mr. Muffin.  The problem for me is I have a Lionel Union Pacific Veranda and a NYC Alleghany coming.  Can't afford too many big ticket items.  It was hard to leave that train behind.  It really is nicely decorated with bunting on the handrails alongside the boiler.

A great shout out to Eastern TCA for hosting such a very fine meet.

I think I will be attending the April York for sure, and may even make hotel reservations now.  I had to drive 20 miles north to find a hotel with any vacancy.  Even at that distance, it was heavily booked, and pricey!  I saw some train meet attendees there as well.  The April time frame will allow my wallet to be ready for big ticket items.  One item I could not find there was a MTH TIU.  I looked hard for one too.  I did get the MTH handheld controller NOS version 6.1, I believe.

So all in all, I think it was a great meet, and have zero negatives to post about.