what do you miss at York that used to be there?

Walter and the RMT booth... I enjoyed asking him to make more New Haven items!

and.....

Lower prices than we see now!

The sprawling bandit meets, especially the one at the Billy Budd that ran down the side streets were fantastic.  Grab a beer and a hot dog and look at trains, what a couple of days.  Sad to say, all gone now.  The Thursday opening of the TCA meet was very effective in killing them off.

I love the orange hall don’t get me wrong but miss the grandstand building underneath and the Lionel tent! 

The food stand outside the Purple Hall.  There are still plenty of places to grab food, but that one was always one of my favorites.

I miss having the OGR Grand Stand Meeting in the Grand Stands! It was quite nice to get outside for a bit vs in the Gold Hall.

Dmaxdeere87 posted:

I love the orange hall don’t get me wrong but miss the grandstand building underneath and the Lionel tent! 

I second that!

The Brown Hall

I get nostalgic for the yellow and gold halls.  Crowded and chaotic, but they had a lot of character. 

I miss the array of new products from the manufacturers that are no longer there.  Weaver, Aristocraft, K-Line, Pride Lines and Arttista all come to mind.

Gone too is the Green Hall and the gentleman with the homemade trains.  My sons were young then.  Every York they would always head to his display to push those trains back and forth.

Mostly I miss those York friends that have passed.  However, I'm thankful for the memories and the chance to have known them.

Time moves on and things change.  The great thing about York is the opportunity to have new experiences and make new memories.  Still anticipate these meets even after attending for a quarter century.

There was a vendor who set up barbeques and cooked beef right on the premises. I think it was by near the black hall. I really liked their sandwiches.

Ted R posted:

I get nostalgic for the yellow and gold halls.  Crowded and chaotic, but they had a lot of character. 

I miss the array of new products from the manufacturers that are no longer there.  Weaver, Aristocraft, K-Line, Pride Lines and Arttista all come to mind.

Gone too is the Green Hall and the gentleman with the homemade trains.  My sons were young then.  Every York they would always head to his display to push those trains back and forth.

Mostly I miss those York friends that have passed.  However, I'm thankful for the memories and the chance to have known them.

Time moves on and things change.  The great thing about York is the opportunity to have new experiences and make new memories.  Still anticipate these meets even after attending for a quarter century.

Just curious.. what kinds of engines were the homemade engines? I know a guy who made his own CNJ and Reading camelbacks as well as PRR E6's. 

I think that fellow who made the camelbacks was still in Orange in the Spring.

The Green Hall - plus, as others have written, the Yellow/Gold Halls.

The man in the Conductors uniform who looked like the Old Skipper and was selling the Toonerville Trolley in G and O scale.

RaritanRiverRailroadFan4 posted:

Ted R posted:

......................

Gone too is the Green Hall and the gentleman with the homemade trains.  My sons were young then.  Every York they would always head to his display to push those trains back and forth.

..................

Just curious.. what kinds of engines were the homemade engines? I know a guy who made his own CNJ and Reading camelbacks as well as PRR E6's. 

Not to speak for Ted, but I think it was trains made from tin cans (like large instant potato cans).  He had a stick with a hook that he would latch on to the engine and then push the train down the tracks.  Pretty unique.

I miss Yellow a little (but not the weird pattern you had to walk to make sure not to miss anything!), but I'm sure the vendors do not at this point.  I recall both Joe Grzyboski and Nicholas Smith crammed into one of those side vendor booths, with overflow just on some tables across the aisle from their booths.  They each probably have 7-10 times the space they used to have. 

I'm sure Lionel and MTH don't miss their old setup either.  I think most vendors were very pleased with moving to the Orange Hall and the booth model offered for display space.

-Dave

C W Burfle posted:

There was a vendor who set up barbeques and cooked beef right on the premises. I think it was by near the black hall. I really liked their sandwiches.

I don't know if it's the same one, but there is still a BBQ vendor that regularly sets up a grill near the Silver/Blue entrance (Memorial Hall sign), towards the road that leads over to Purple/Orange.

-Dave

Me!

Haven't been to York in several years!

Simon

That is an easy question.......The concession stand under the Yellow Hall near Greenberg's Books.....they had the best cake donuts with rich chocolate icing!

Vince's Trains.

Marty of Ma & Pa Trains.

Beth and Public Delivery Track

There was an older man who always sold books on RRs, transportation and military topics in the Purple Hall year after year..... I always found something neat there.....and then the next York he was gone....I hope he just retired....

Rails and Shafts....I believe the owner passed. The successor company did not last very long.

Peter

  The evening auction at the fairgrounds .

Rocky Mountaineer posted:

The food stand outside the Purple Hall.  There are still plenty of places to grab food, but that one was always one of my favorites.

I agree.

I miss Owen's happy smile and hello.

Alexander's Restaurant......an easy walk from the grounds.  

Also have been missing Dennis from Arttista in recent York meets.  I will always remember that at one of his last participations in Orange Hall, he displayed one of his new figures that I'd been asking for for a few years....the guy looking through binoculars...who now proudly stands at the rail atop my forest fire lookout station created from an old Lionel 395 tower.  Elsewhere....TBD...will be his twin brother checking out the sunbathing neighbor.

Also, I miss Bill Parisi (OGR staff)...because he helped me at an April York meet plan an expanded version of the Ameritowne Midtown Hotel to hide a basement support post .   He was taken to glory I believe in June of that year....a mere two months later.  His guidance for the project was spot-on ...for which I will hold a special place of gratitude in my heart.

Yeah, I miss Vince's Trains, too.   We...wife and I...bought our share of engines and passenger cars there.  I always wondered why they didn't provide complimentary 'drool' towels at the booth's entrance! 

Finally, I miss the full gamut of ED-TCA's York rules....including bans on cameras, cell-phones, etc..  Yeah, you heard me!!  ()   

"Why!?!?", you say?

Because I miss those regular announcements over the PA, shocking us out of our railroader's reverie, reminding us of the plethora of no-no's...and wondering why appeals for personal hygiene and hefty fines for crop-dusting weren't included.   It was the stuff that minstrels of yore would've written a tuneful ditty about to celebrate its heroic effort!........With a 'Hey-diddle-diddle-hi-ho'!!? 

York meet....better for you than pork meat!  

Can't wait!!!

KD

I miss the guy that was under the grandstand, sold trains in a small booth and had his tank cars hanging from hooks around his booth. Looked like he was selling sausage's. Also miss everything already mentioned.

Clem 

In addition to the many things mentioned above, I also miss the joke announcements over the PA system.  Some of them were quite funny, and some made me do a double-take in wondering if I actually heard what I thought I just heard.   They kept me on guard and actually paying more attention to the announcements.  After a while, I just tune out announcements about arrows and such if that is all that is being announced.

Andy

I agree with Andy on those no-longer heard comical announcements and also agree with those that miss the Friday night auctions and Alexander's restaurant.

Bill

Bob posted:

The sprawling bandit meets, especially the one at the Billy Budd that ran down the side streets were fantastic.  Grab a beer and a hot dog and look at trains, what a couple of days.  Sad to say, all gone now.  The Thursday opening of the TCA meet was very effective in killing them off.

I'm with you on that one, Bob! I truly enjoyed spending a couple of pre-meet days at those bandit meets.

The Friday night auction.

W&W posted:

Dmaxdeere87 posted:

I love the orange hall don’t get me wrong but miss the grandstand building underneath and the Lionel tent! 

I second that!

I third it!  Those are exactly the two things I thought of when I read the excellent topic question.  The Yellow Hall was really something in its day.  I used to love looking at the offerings of that guy who made really nice refinery models.

I also miss talking and laughing with Tony Lash and his son Duke, spending time with some departed friends (e.g., Al Otten) and many others.

I don't miss TGIF, mail-only badges, and expensive hotels with no real options.

Fun thread.

Steven J. Serenska

For the EDTCA meet it's very easy, the Friday night auction with the wood slat, folding chairs.  Sometimes the temperature thermostat on the central air system didn't work real well and it might be chilly.

But overall, I miss the large selection of bandit meets.  It was an exciting mixture of chaos, fate, fantasy, and humanity.  

Mike Regan working for Lionel and handing me a catalog. 

Dave45681 posted:

RaritanRiverRailroadFan4 posted:

Ted R posted:

......................

Gone too is the Green Hall and the gentleman with the homemade trains.  My sons were young then.  Every York they would always head to his display to push those trains back and forth.

..................

Just curious.. what kinds of engines were the homemade engines? I know a guy who made his own CNJ and Reading camelbacks as well as PRR E6's. 

Not to speak for Ted, but I think it was trains made from tin cans (like large instant potato cans).  He had a stick with a hook that he would latch on to the engine and then push the train down the tracks.  Pretty unique.

I miss Yellow a little (but not the weird pattern you had to walk to make sure not to miss anything!), but I'm sure the vendors do not at this point.  I recall both Joe Grzyboski and Nicholas Smith crammed into one of those side vendor booths, with overflow just on some tables across the aisle from their booths.  They each probably have 7-10 times the space they used to have. 

I'm sure Lionel and MTH don't miss their old setup either.  I think most vendors were very pleased with moving to the Orange Hall and the booth model offered for display space.

-Dave

Yes, those were the trains.  Everything was homemade including the tracks. 

Sometimes I miss the Mercedes I could have bought with what I've spent at (and going to) York.  But I get over it.

Me!

I miss buying direct from Mike Wolf under the grandstand, and the G gauge prototypes that Aristocraft occasionaly sold in the Gold annex. Also the ROW layout in the Gold annex too. 

RockyMountaineer: That was the Sodl's stand. Good breakfast and lunch at a reasonable price. 

Most of all, I miss my stamina to walk through all the halls in one day!

Sodl's is gone??

I miss the AOL spaghetti dinners in the (VFW?) hall a few blocks away. K-Line would debut some of their newest offerings there.

Joe Hayter and Weaver Models, Andy Petersen and Petersen Supply, Dennis Arttista and Arttista, and Jeff Dobslaw and JD's Trains.

Also Beth Marshall and the Public Delivery Track. With Beth's exit from York, the Brown Hall closed.

Lou "Mr. TCA" Redman, member # CM-3

Once, during a sort of lull in the proceedings on a rainy Saturday morning, I saw him just standing at his table, looking out over the Blue Hall attendees, with sort of a wistful look on his face.  I said to him "Look what you have created...incredible!"  He nodded modestly, and all he said was "Yes...it's great, isn't it?"

RoyBoy posted:

Sodl's is gone??

 

Rumor was it was supposedly being eliminated to install bathrooms for that building.  As of April, there was nothing to be seen but an empty space where the food stand used to be.  Projects at the fairgrounds can be slow sometimes I guess.  (or the rumor was just a rumor)

I guess we shall see if anything has changed next week.

-Dave

I agree with all the sentiments recorded here. All these experiences are what has made the York Meet the great event that it is. 

For me the thing that never changes is the excitement building up before the Meet. The looking forward to just the grandness of the Meet, seeing all the trains, buying some of them, and most of all seeing and catching up with forum members, friends and family that attend the Meet. Talking trains, happy greetings and having meals together. 

Even though I will miss this York Meet, it truly is a stress reliever and mini vacation that I really enjoy. 

Have fun everyone, and I’ll see ya there in April!