York-Yuck

[CSXJOE]

It seems like every 5th post on the OGR Forum is about York. Here, it is minimal or non-existant.
Me? I have no interest in going or hearing about York. Buy what I need at local shows, hobby stores, or internet.

If this is heresy, so be it.

[Big_Boy_4005]

I hear you Joe, and have mentioned this before.

I live far enough away, and have limited enough funds, and a taste in trains that makes York meaningless to me. The way I see it, I can buy more trains just sitting at my computer, and I don't have to worry about anything. It is sort of like watching the Super Bowl on TV instead of going to the game!!!!!

On the other hand I have friends here in the Twin Cities that attend religiously, and are always excited to show me their latest finds. While I find their purchases interesting, I'm left scratching my head when they say they got a bargain, because I always think of the time and expense of traveling to buy trains. The truth is that they have been going for so long that it is a social event for them, because they have met so many people over the years.

Part of the secret here is to see both sides, even if you don't agree with one. Simply pass over the York topics, I almost passed over this one.[swg] Have fun!!!!

[FJ and G]

I hear you Joe,

I've got 2 sisters that live near York but I understand that if you go there without any money, you will be miserable.

I really don't want to spend any more money on trains and the bargains aren't that great besides, from everything I've been told.

only reason to go would be to meet train dudes and dudesses who I've met over cyberspace.

And yes, on the other forum they used to (perhaps still) have countdowns to York and stuff like that. The only humorous post I've read had to do with either scrapple and some kinda sponge cakes that the fat people ate and Allan Miller's "live" report of the events, hour by hour, written from several hundred miles away (because everything is so predictable).

I feel sorry for CTT if they have to maintain a booth there and listen to all the blather

[Anonymous]

sorry guys i beg to differ,yorks great! i personally have spent many hours being serviced by the class A whores in the surrounding area and find the rates very agreable if a little lacking in enthusiasm,but what can you expect from a crack whore......

[FJ and G]

I think Free Willy has had too much scrapple and funnel cakes at York and has become delirious. :-)

[Jim Duda]

AHA! ...and I always thought York was about trains...(wink)

Jim Duda

[alton6]

Well, York PA is a few mule-days journey from California where I hang out. From it's enthusiastic billing, It seems to be a bit of a Woodstock for train fanatics. That's cool! Be fun to see it and be REAL crowded, but BE THERE if YOU CARE. 'Tis certainly cheaper to stay home, though.

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: it is a social event for them, because they have met so many people over the years.

And that is basically why many people attend football games, horseshows, car races, auctions, boat shows and a zillion other events because it enables them to interact with their friends in a way they find rewarding.
And that ain't all bad in this day and age.

You can never have enough friends. [:D] And if trains, big or small are involved, so much the better.

[Roger Bielen]

Went once to see what it was about. My main cost was for gas, I stayed with my daughter in the Baltimore area. It also ended up a "daddy do" week.

I spent two days at York, the first for the flea market sales and the other for York proper. I found the flea markets with better deals and the TCA meet a once must see experience. From what I hear, if you stay in York there is a social aspect to the trip.

[Anonymous]

I have been going to York for many years. Yes, it has changed
in character. Not as informal, not many bargains, but that also
reflects the hobby as a whole. The only "down" side I see at
York is that for an organization that is supposed to promote a
sense of history and fellowship, seems to promote retail busi-
ness and revenue generation. I still enjoy York because I can
go "window-shopping" there and then buy trains I see from the
same dealers when they come to the smaller shows near me
and have their stuff marked down to a more reasonable price.

It seems that over the past ten years, York has become a place
for the high-dollar trader, manufacturer, bulk-buyer/reseller, and
not as much a place for the average collector/operator. It is a good
place to see some of the new-issue stuff in the flesh and talk to
the manufacturers or their reps. It isn't that conducive to newcomers
to the hobby as the artificially-high prices tend to discourage one
from purchasing anything.

In the pursuit of the almighty dollar I have seen, in recent years,
examples where sellers have disassembled some very nice, almost
pristine, pieces of tinplate and offered up the individual parts for
sale rather than selling the whole piece. A shame since by taking
a piece of rolling stock apart, you destroy the paint, tabs, etc. I can
see parting out junkers and salvage items, but parting out a nice
items is just plain wrong. This has begun with Post War stuff ,too.

I tend to do my spending now at smaller shows as the atmosphere
is less intense and vendors ask more reasonable prices.

[Anonymous]

I went once. It was too crowded, too expensive, more junk than good stuff. Maybe it's different now.

[RI Jim]

Party Pooper! This troll thread showed up on the OGR Forum, too.

York just happens to be one of the biggest events in model traindom and it is about people getting together almost as much as the trains themselves. Having been there a few times, if you're interested in trains at all it is a fun time even if you don't spend a lot of money. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it, as they say.

[superwarp1]

I went to york for the first time last Oct. While I didn't buy much. Just looking at all the neat, cool, and interesting stuff there by dealers and manufactors was well worth it for me.

Gary

[CSXJOE]

RI Jim:

This is not a "troll thread". My opinions about York are common knowledge at our train club.

[nitroboy]

I've gone twice, mostly buying parts and checking to see all the new suff coming out. To rich for my blood though, a few bargins, but not many.

Dave

[Anonymous]

I'm going, my 1st time. Can't wait. I might go to the OGR dinner.[dinner][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome]

[Big_Boy_4005]

I have always known that Pennsylvania has had the largest number of TCA members, but I never stopped to check out just how large. I grabbed my directory, flipped to Pennsylvania, and found 17 pages of member's names!! Minnesota has 3/4 of a page, North and South Dakota can't muster much over a dozen between them, and tiny Rhode Island out does Canada and the rest of the World combined. Pennsylvania is clearly at the center of the train collecting universe, and this is their party. Everyone is invited, for many of the rest of us it simply doesn't make sense to attend.

[Buck216]

I have attended the last half dozen or so shows. This spring I will be attending my first one as a local Yorkian. I don't spend an excessive amount at the shows and yet I am still amazed at the enormous amount of train folks and trains all at one location. I highly recommend the show to anyone that has an interest in trains. Given the volume of folks that attend and the volume of product being turned over in such a short period of time, the TCA does a real nice job with the show.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Is there a difference between the Spring York show and the Fall York show? As you can tell I've never been to York.

[Anonymous]

It is not your typical show. Rows and rows and rows and rows and rows of toy trains. Sounds more like heaven to me, or a vacation at least. Nothing like it. Unfortunatley too many people don't seem to bath before they attend.[:)]

[macdannyk1]

I've been told by my TTOS club mates that the upcoming Spring Cal-Stewart in Santa Clara, CA, which bills itself as the largest train meet west of the Mississippi (but don't quote me on that) would maybe take up 1/2 of one of the massive halls at York. Doesn't want to make me go, but I thought it was an interesting factoid. :)

[4kitties]

Buckeye Riveter, this will be my fourth time to attend. In my experience the spring and fall meets are very similar. The manufacturers and dealers in attendance seem to vary but I don't know if it's because of the time of year. Regarding bargains or lack thereof mentioned in other posts, I believe it depends on what you're looking for. I would agree that bargains are scarce on used goods but I've done really well on some new items.

[Trainman52]

I've been going to York for over 20 years (time flys when you're having fun). I'm at the point now where I go more for the getaway than the thrill of the hunt. We spend two nights in Lancaster, outlet shopping, a few nice meals and that country air. York has grown so large that we now skip several of the building (heresy !!). We enjoy the funnel cakes, crab cakes, lemonade and browsing through the manufacturer's displays. At times it has been quite depressing seeing your pre-ordered products being "dumped" at distress prices. What are you going to do? The bright side is that I have run out of room so pre-orders are at an all time low. You have to know that there is a certain magic to York when my results oriented friend goes even though his purchases are minimal.

[FJ and G]

What is a preorder? :-)

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

What is a preorder? :-)

This topic may help Dave
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12033
Still have pre order questions, wake up the topic.[swg]

[Anonymous]

CSX Joe,

I'd like to go once to see for myself what it is all about, but like you, I am able to find everything I need through other sources. I guess it is a good source for collectors to find very rare items.

[Frank in Steam]

When I go to York, I go with a short list of things to find that I have not seen at the local shows and dealers. I don't do e bay. The opportunity to get together with folks who have moved is always wonderful. I really enjoy being able to speak with the manufacturers. Of course I always find one or two things that I just can't resist at the price = so much for the 'everything is high priced there crowd', and a ton of things that are at good prices and tempting, but I just resist. Amongst the club members we always chuckle with glee at a new member's first York = make sure that you bring along a trailer to haul your stuff home.

I just can't get the combination of train social, sales extravaganza and happening anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

I wonder when they started calling it Spring Cal-Stewart Meet? I thought it was Nor-Cal but I see that's the way they head it up on the registration form. They do say Nor-Cal on the bottom of the folder. I've only been there once but would'nt mind going again. The last time I went California had the flood of the century in that area. We drove up from LA on Interstate 5 but had to come back on 99 because the road washed out.

[brianel027]

If you've never been to YORK, you should at least go once. It is pretty amazing the first time. The few times I've been, I've always found a bargain or two. Plus you do see things you tend not to see everyday. And there have been times when the dealers were offering deals before I even expressed interest. Of course, there is the "collector frenzy" and the dealers with high prices. But there's so many dealers, you can just walk on to the next several hundred.

The thing that bugs me is that all the mfgers. will be there taking notes, so they can say they listen to what folks want. Which is fine. But when you talk about 027 stuff or stater set / beginner stuff, you get the line "well, that's not what folks are asking for."
Duh! No kidding.
Not when you go to a show where the public isn't welcome and where the people you talk to are die-hard train guys who are mostly over 50 years old. And it's not really a kid-friendly show either.

And you can bet that if Lionel has their display layout, they won't be running "The Pennsy Flyer Set" or the "Southern Diesel Freight Set." Nor will K-Line be running the "Construction Set." Even though they should.

And if they do run those sets, they best bring plenty of earplugs 'cause they'll likely hear about it! And not from the "ever-elusive target consumer pair – the little boy and his dad." Because this is not your everyday kind of train show where the "ever-elusive target consumer pair – the little boy and his dad" will just show up.

They can all talk about getting kids back into the hobby, but that's all it is. Talk. Because they don't want to make the effort to do anything about it. Pure and simple. Need proof. Go to YORK.

In my opinion they all deserve to get headaches - hearing at extended length about every single unusual oddball prototype scale item that should be made ... about how the last prototypical item only fair because it was missing a couple of rivets ... about every single failed electronic-loaded engine that won't run and wouldn't run from the start ... about every single advertised-as-scale item that isn't really scale... about every single cancelled catalog item ... about every single value-added dealer who can't make ends meet because the large mailorder places get favored treatment ... about every missed delivery date ...

They've brought it on to themselves.

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: And it's not really a kid-friendly show either.

Well, as you can see, I guess I won't be able to go. [:(][:(][:(][:(][:(][:(] I wonder if Grandpa would take me?