This has been one of the best "Yorks" ever for me! Many of us come here to look for that one elusive item to round out the collection, others come to see all the latest and greatest stuff from the contemporary manufacturing and importing entities, but I come here first and foremost to see and interact with the wonderful friends I've made in the hobby over the past 14 years of being back in the favorite pastime of my youth! Once again, York did not disappoint!
Although overall meet attendance appeared to be down from the peaks of years past, the hard core (or should it be "corps"?) represented by OGR Forumites seemed to be here in a profusion that perhaps lacked the numbers of previous Yorks, but made up for it in warmth and enthusiasm. OGR Forum's "Thursdays at Fridays" was the best ever. Pat Marinai talked himself hoarse as he schmoozed with long lost train pals from all over the country. Lou "Pappy" Granato and his bride, Nancy, were there for the first time in three years. They reported that our former "Assistant Web Master" from the early days of the Forum and their grandson, Lou III, (PRSLou) is doing well and working as a website designer/engineer. A few of you for unknown reasons were conspicuous by your absence and missed, but those who were in attendance remembered you all with the hope that we will see you in the fall.
I have to say that we all felt the emotional hole left by the untimely departures and aching absense from our earthly midst of two long term and beloved Forumites, Owen Sturm, and Kim Smith. Sitting with old friends Peter Gentieu and Peter Condro at the well-attended Forum Grandstand Meeting yesterday afternoon, I recalled that the last time I saw either Kim or Owen alive was at that same meeting last Fall. It goes without saying that all who were privileged to know either or both of these two wonderful human beings will keep them alive in our personal and corporate memories well into the distant future.
Thursdays at Fridays was a wonderful reunion of old friends renewing bonds that go back more than a decade that this Forum has been in existence. Of course the Forum has been an invaluable resource for hobby technique and information sharing, but more importantly, it has been the place where so many lifelong friendships have been started! To all of those hobby journal stalwarts from the staff of OGR who envisioned and created this Forum back in the last century, thank you from all of us who owe you so much!
The Forum Grandstand reunion and meeting yesterday was the best ever. Ed Boyle persevered as the MC despite the occasional cat calls from a "tough crowd". Many luminaries of the manufacturing and importing industry that so faithfully and dependably support the Forum and the hobby we all love, held forth with informative reports and some introductions of beautiful new products and useful services. The two leading comedians of past Forum conclaves were both on a roll yesterday. The entertainment provided by friendly and good natured "inside baseball" jabs was appreciatively received by the crowd of Forumites. Andy Edelman of MTH won us over with his self-deprecating humor and a few zingers directed at the competition. Andy's presentation of "Blue Comet" awards to various hobbyist groups for promoting our brand of model railroading to future generations engendered enduring rounds of applause from the crowd for that joint effort of promotion and recognition by MTH and these groups who work hard and play hard! Mike Reagan, as he has in the past, updated us on his team's efforts to improve customer service and parts support since he has taken over that unenviable responsibility as director of customer support at Lionel. As usual, Mike delivered his own salvo of good natured zingers and I think it was made clear to everyone that was in attendance yesterday that despite the intensity of healthy competition, the manufacturers are united as an industry group in their sincere support of the hobby that we all love and enjoy so much. In an emotional few moments at the end of his presentation, Mike asked military veterans present to identify themselves and a lot of hands went up all over the grandstand. He then led the Forum in a round of enthusiastic applause for their service. Mike announced that henceforth in recognition of Lionel's veteran customers, Lionel will pay for shipping any warranty repair work both to as well as from the Lionel facility in Ohio. Mike's obvious sincerity in the recognition of America's vets left few dry eyes among the attendees and the prepaid warranty shipping announcement was met with a warm response from everyone.
The meet, as always, has been a fun and stress-relieving event for all of us who were fortunate enough to attend during these uncertain but hopeful economic times. I wanted to quickly make note of perhaps one crass economic phenomenon in the hobby that may already be obvious to most of you who buy, operate, and collect modern era items. It was personally disappointing to see such low asking prices for many locomotive offerings from the first wave of high technology that kicked off in the mid to late '90s. Remembering Moore's law about computer technology doubling in power every 18 months, I guess that was to be expected. At York this time, I saw gorgeous and relatively rare die cast steamers being offered for roughly half of their original MSRPs, caught in limbo somewhere between what at one time had been eye-watering technical operability and now the unknowable future of collectibility value. If it's any consolation, Confederate paper money in good condition is now worth a bundle!
I'm making one more pass through the halls this morning to say "good bye" to our vendor friends and thank them again for supporting the hobby and our Forum, then it's off to an afternoon and evening of "prototypical operations" and socializing with dear Forumite friends in southern Pennsylvania and finally back to Denver on Monday afternoon. To all of you who were not able to attend York and the OGR events this time around, we hope to see you in the fall. To those old and dear friends with whom I had the welcome chance to renew our semiannual shared York fun and Forum-hatched friendships, it was truly great to see you! Please have a safe trip home, and enjoy your trains!
TiredAndFootsoreButHappyBear
