Charlienassau posted:Moonson, they only had one hall ( blue) back then andit was first come, first served: we ran for the tables and claimed them.
Wow. That's some harsh......stuff.
What happened to a presenter who hadn't gotten to a table in time? Did he not off-load his wares and have to return home? That "system" sounds almost arbitrary and cold.
Hard to imagine any TCAers running.
we're talking 30 plus years ago - the same guys but much younger. Crazy times. Dudes leaving their infant babies in car seats on saved table tops.
youngstown posted:Gil Finn
RIP
He never made it to York. I even offered to drive to Scott Depot, WV and pick him up and take him. By that time he was too sick to go.
Scott Smith
Here is my list of things I miss at York.
Loco Louies
Thursday at Fridays was a more social gathering since everyone tended to walk around.
Pat Trains (Yes he use to have a booth in Orange Hall)
MTH Repair Tent
Big Mo's train layout
K-Line (BTW they had the best train layout I have seen at York. It was in the room behind their booth and it was a complete city using superstreets..I wish we could have shot pictures and video in those days).
Scott Smith
Dunno what his official name was, but we called him 'Mr. Shakey'.....the lifesize figure in the conductor's uniform that stood at one corner of the Scenic Express booth. The ol' geezer had the shakes and held a pan for 'tips'.
I 'spect he lost his mojo somewhere along the line and was retired. Or, maybe the fairground latrine attendants felt he was too competitive for the tips and had him....'dispatched'???
Poor guy.....they should have at least given him a stool to sit on for those long show hours.
Worse yet?......I'm starting to identify with the guy's attributes, too! (NOT an offer to substitute, mind you!!!)
KD
All things change and York is no exception. Over the years many manufactures, vendors and people have come and gone. In recent times I've missed the good people that are no longer with us and K-Line, the larger displays of MTH Lionel, Atlas, the older antiques and the availability of more scratch built stuff.
ME
Nice that Arthur reminded us of our founder Lou Redmond, in that colorful "white suit" he used to wear. You wonder what he really thought. "Isn't this great" vs "Have I created a monster?" Ha ha
And how about the free donuts that K-Line used to hand out in the Purple Hall on Friday morning? Gone with the wind...
And the "crush" in the Blue Hall, "the gold mine" as my family used to call it, "where all the good stuff is" (that hasn't been secretly sold at Billy Budd etc. earlier in the week). Still crowded but much easier to navigate these days, thanks to the Silver Hall taking part of the load.
And at 5pm as the blankets covered the tables, you thought "boy that was fun, now I have to wait another 6 months!"
"WEAVER"...................Paul
S & W Parts Supply in Purple Hall
And the lovely voice of the announcer lady saying to follow the direction arrows in the Halls.
THE PUBLIC DELIVERY TRACK. COME BACK BETH!!!!
Alexander's Restaurant.
Bill
I didn't read all the pages but if not mentioned I miss Ma & Pa Junction he carried almost all of Williams to the show. WBB has changed it so much it's really not Williams anymore.
I miss the independent food vendors on the fairgrounds. Now they're all run by that french fry vendor. Much worse food, much greater prices, not much variety.
Also miss the Giant Food store across the street from the Blue Hall. Always picked up a really good sub-sandwich there for my way home on Saturdays.
(Ah... Nothing is forever!)
Paul Fischer
All my friends that have passed away. Remember, I have been going to York for over 41 years.
Beth and Vince, plus Alex at the Korber booth.
Lines hundreds of people long at opening, crowds, all buildings full of dealers with over flow tents, manufactures display trailers, packed aisles in every building plus lots of precious folks no longer with us.
I would give anything to see Loco Louie stomp another freight car to pieces when some chiseler tried beat Louie's price down on it.
Although it had a short run, I miss "Mikes Kosher Hot Dog Kook-Out" held at 10 AM Thursday mornings in the parking lot near the grandstand.
Tom Tee posted:I would give anything to see Loco Louie stomp another freight car to pieces when some chiseler tried beat Louie's price down on it.
I only heard about this, but I'd LOVE to have seen this exchange and final 'transaction', capture it on the phone camera, and watch it go viral!! My hat's off to Loco Louie, wherever he is. 
I also heard of a dealer challenged to lower his price to something ridiculous on a diecast figure....not sure it was at York, though. He had a hammer, beat the figure to a pulp in front of the slack-jawed customer.
My heroes of the hobby show! 
Lord knows I have enough 'stuff' to justify a table or two at a show/meet/market, and I'm of the same ilk....have hammer/steel-toed shoes, will 'negotiate'!
KD
Wow, what a thread! I started attending York in the Fall of 2000, which makes me a relative newcomer compared to some of the veterans who have already posted. I think I've missed 1 or 2, which means I've attended 32 or so. What I miss:
George
Well, in the long run, as it has turned out, in time, many of us have a lot of the stuff we bought at York on our layouts and/or in our collections at home, so we have treasured mementoes still with us to remind us of good people, good times, a unique event and venue, and the place of our unique hobby in our personal histories.
I am grateful for it all.
FrankM, Layout Refinements, and Moon Township, USA.
dkdkrd posted:Dunno what his official name was, but we called him 'Mr. Shakey'.....the lifesize figure in the conductor's uniform that stood at one corner of the Scenic Express booth. The ol' geezer had the shakes and held a pan for 'tips'.
I 'spect he lost his mojo somewhere along the line and was retired. Or, maybe the fairground latrine attendants felt he was too competitive for the tips and had him....'dispatched'???
Poor guy.....they should have at least given him a stool to sit on for those long show hours.
Worse yet?......I'm starting to identify with the guy's attributes, too! (NOT an offer to substitute, mind you!!!)
KD
He actually made his way to our club
I miss this guys booth
And I miss this guy
The AOL dinners.
The Green Hall.
The free stuff. (Just kidding. There never was any free stuff.)
The buying frenzy and crowds that came from being open only on Friday and part of Saturday. The meet was always packed and super-busy. You had to buy something when you saw it, otherwise it would be gone. There were few opportunities to make a second pass through the halls.
I know a number of people who preferred the "shotgun start", and even more that preferred the two day show. IMHO, the character of the show changed shortly after it was changed to three days.
What do I miss at York?
Me. I miss my being here...
amidst all the happiness and camaraderie. And if I ever manage to craft a full-enough inventory again, I may be back. For now, as I continue to recover from several serious surgeries, I craft when I am inspired and continue to inform my previous York customers, as well as my clients, via photo attachments to e-mails, of what I have completed most recently.
However, when I do that, they say, "Sold!" and have me ship the Insta-Ramas to them (!)
My usual inventory for York had been 40 - 44 completed works. However, right now, my inventory stored in my trainroom is comprised of exactly one Insta-Rama, to date (!) Everything continues to sell before I can accumulate enough to justify getting back to York. I've begun to wonder if my little business of Layout Refinements has shifted from my temporary "storefront" booth in the Orange Hall at York to an on-line business? I continue to wonder.
One of the very best parts of being at York became enjoying the visits to my booth, as soon as I completed setting-up, by Allan Miller, of OGR, Jim Elster of Scenic Express, and Roy Baker, of Baker's Railroad Shop, each of whom would visit the booth before the opening of the Meet, to see what I had made. Those greetings by those gentlemen, and their interest in my creativity, were moments I treasured, frankly. I miss that, too.
So, life is good, very, very good, but I do miss being at the TCA Meet @York, very much.
FrankM, Moon Township, USA, and Layout Refinements
Moonson posted:What do I miss at York?
Me. I miss my being here...
amidst all the happiness and camaraderie. And if I ever manage to craft a full-enough inventory again, I may be back. For now, as I continue to recover from several serious surgeries, I craft when I am inspired and continue to inform my previous York customers, as well as my clients, via photo attachments to e-mails, of what I have completed most recently.
However, when I do that, they say, "Sold!" and have me ship the Insta-Ramas to them (!)
My usual inventory for York had been 40 - 44 completed works. However, right now, my inventory stored in my trainroom is comprised of exactly one Insta-Rama, to date (!) Everything continues to sell before I can accumulate enough to justify getting back to York. I've begun to wonder if my little business of Layout Refinements has shifted from my temporary "storefront" booth in the Orange Hall at York to an on-line business? I continue to wonder.
One of the very best parts of being at York became enjoying the visits to my booth, as soon as I completed setting-up, by Allan Miller, of OGR, Jim Elster of Scenic Express, and Roy Baker, of Baker's Railroad Shop, each of whom would visit the booth before the opening of the Meet, to see what I had made. Those greetings by those gentlemen, and their interest in my creativity, were moments I treasured, frankly. I miss that, too.
So, life is good, very, very good, but I do miss being at the TCA Meet @York, very much.
FrankM, Moon Township, USA, and Layout Refinements
We miss you, too Frank!
George
C W Burfle posted:The buying frenzy and crowds that came from being open only on Friday and part of Saturday. The meet was always packed and super-busy. You had to buy something when you saw it, otherwise it would be gone. There were few opportunities to make a second pass through the halls.
I know a number of people who preferred the "shotgun start", and even more that preferred the two day show. IMHO, the character of the show changed shortly after it was changed to three days.
Certainly true ... the character of the Meet changed when it went to three days.
I don't mind the three-day Meet because I have much more time to see "everything". Then again, the pressure of getting to all the halls in two days provided a special, memorable challenge.
I remember when Neil set up the HORDE layout. I was standing outside the tent as they were setting it up. Neil was having some issues with a steam engine. I think he was trying to get the smoke and sound to work. I didn’t recognize Neil not having seen him in over 25 years.
I motioned to a guy standing next to this guy in all black having trouble with the engine. He came over to me and I said “try reset”. He went back to the other guy and a minute later he was running the engine.
He came back over to me and said “Neil would like to meet you”. He told me to stop back in the afternoon. He asked me if they could do anything for me and I said I had some things I’d like to get signed. He said Neil would be pleased to do that. I went back in the afternoon and had a nice conversation with Neil about TMCC and he signed every thing I had including the Lionel dealer promotional TMCC tractor and trailer.
The Giant Supermarket is still there, at least it was last October. I miss the AOL BBQ and dinners at the Viking Club along with all of our friends who are no longer with us.
We still have dinner Thursday and Friday with a number of our AOL friends from around the country.
I attended my first York in 1995 in April and have kept every member badge.
Neil who?
eddie g posted:Neil who?
Young, who else!
He also came to the AOL BBQ on the Fairgrounds one year we have a photo of him having a beer. I think it was a Rolling Rock.
One year he came in his tour bus and we got to take a tour of it. A guy named Jonn Kitterman, afilated with Lionel at the time was the driver and we were friends with him and he took us on the tour. It was kind of neat to see.
I also miss the bandit meets.
C W Burfle posted:
I know a number of people who preferred the two day show. IMHO, the character of the show changed shortly after it was changed to three days.
Two days? Are you saying the dealers stayed to 5 pm or later on Saturday?
Two days? Are you saying the dealers stayed to 5 pm or later on Saturday?
I guess you aren't familiar with what the show hours were.
Joe Hohmann posted:C W Burfle posted:
I know a number of people who preferred the two day show. IMHO, the character of the show changed shortly after it was changed to three days.
Two days? Are you saying the dealers stayed to 5 pm or later on Saturday?
No, they did not. I liked the two-day event myself, BUT primarily because the earlier days in York week could be spent visiting the numerous "bandit meet" events at various hotels and other venues in the immediate area. Those several days earlier in the week were a whole lot of fun, not to mention good exercise since some of them were outdoors. Those banditmeets pretty much whithered and even died altogether when the Eastern Division changed things to a three-day fairgrounds meet. There still are a couple or three around (maybe even more), but ALL are shells of their former selves.
laz1957 posted:S & W Parts Supply in Purple Hall
And the lovely voice of the announcer lady saying to follow the direction arrows in the Halls.
I think you're talking about Bill Harrison. He usually sets up at the old Sheraton in the corner closest to the main entrance
Allan, You need to come a day or two early and take in the Wyndham meet.
The bandit meet at the former Holidome was very busy a year or two ago. Haven’t come early since then.
irish rifle posted:Also Beth Marshall and the Public Delivery Track. With Beth's exit from York, the Brown Hall closed.
What ever happened to Beth?
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