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Post by BobS2056 on Apr 23, 2023 3:37:07 GMT
Great updates and photos, sounds fun!
I especially like you chatting with Gunrunnerjohn, I am jealous.
Bob
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Post by Traindiesel! on Apr 23, 2023 7:17:01 GMT
Day Four: Saturday, the Final Day of the Spring Meet
So I planned to go to breakfast before heading over to the Fairgrounds. The alarm on my phone began playing it’s tune at 6am. I immediately hit the snooze icon. Ten minutes later it sounded again. I turned it off altogether. &@(:/$!/ I grumbled. My legs and feet still ache, I’m still full from Friday night’s dinner so I’m not going to eat anything and I’m done shopping. So we slept in for another hour or three. We eventually got ourselves together and headed over to the Meet.
We walked into the Orange Hall and I was stunned! “What is this? Is this Saturday?!” I’ve been going to the York Meet since 1983 and I’ve never seen so many people in the Orange before! I would usually have entire aisles to myself on a Saturday. But today I had to dodge some real live breathing people! Now I’m not saying the attendance rivaled a Thursday or Friday, but it was a lot busier. A couple vendors I spoke with said overall attendance was down but the people that were there were buying.
At noon there were a few still buying tickets to enter. And several young families. The best was seeing a young couple and their toddler son pushing a stroller. The child had to walk because the stroller was toting boxes of trains. OUTSTANDING!!
Although I was done buying during this trip I just wanted to see if the Atlas O "Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis" PS-1 box car was still at the booth I saw it in on Friday. I liked it because we went to Chattanooga back in October for a wedding that caused me to miss York. I wanted it as a trophy for retribution for missing last October’s Meet! If it wasn’t there, no big deal. But it was still there so I bought it. But wait! What’s this??!! (You know where this is going now!) Two of the new Lionel covered gondolas in Milwaukee Road and Santa Fe! I was surprised how hefty they are. But wait, that’s not all! Up on top of the rack was the recent “Altoona Curve Beer” reefer. I’ve been to Altoona, Pa many times railfanning and tasted the Curve beer. Onto the pile they they go, paid for them all and out the door I went!
As I was putting my new treasures into the trunk of our much too small rental car, I was now in full hunt mode!! I remembered seeing a Vision Line NYC sound box car set, but where? I couldn’t remember! So with a deep breath and blazing red eyes I ventured into the abyss of the Orange Hall to acquire them. No such luck. I was either in the wrong place or it was sold. But the O Gauge Gods smiled upon me again! Instead I discovered a Vision Line Santa Fe stock car set with sounds that I really had hoped to find. I had to excavate the box from a pile of freight cars. I just knew if I waited to ask for help someone else might steal them from me. Out to the much too small rental car they went.
Lynley just shook her head and laughed. “I thought you were done”, she said. “I am”, I said, “But I want to check one more thing”! I didn’t wait for a reply. With tunnel vision I dragged my tired ::bleep:: for one more trip through the aisles. I was trying to find a Vision Line B&O box car with sounds I saw on Friday. It was gone. So I figured I’d call it a Meet and headed back to the lobby to get Lynley and take my stash to the UPS table outside the Silver Hall to ship back home.
As I slowly strolled through the aisle, taking it all in and absorbing the energy that model trains provide before leaving York, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Two Atlas O Milwaukee Road box cars with different car numbers. I got a little discount because the vendor didn’t have to pack them up. Then, like The Incredible Hulk when he calms and returns to become Bruce Banner, I knew it was time to go. I always end up buying most of my trains at York on Saturday!
But first, I checked out the TCA Kid’s Club layout in the Orange Hall lobby.
We then drove over to the UPS tables outside the Silver Hall. While they worked to secure by bounty for shipping, I went inside to make my final purchase by registering for the October Meet and got our badges to take home. When I came back to UPS my packages were ready to go.
As they finished up “Happy Trails” was playing over the Fairgrounds speakers signaling the end of the April 2023 York Meet. It feels like the last day of summer vacation before school starts up again.
By now we were really hungry so we went to Lattuca’s Sub Bar for lunch. The best cheesesteak this side of the Susquehanna River. (Until we get back to San Diego county where I go to a sandwich shop owned by a family friend from the Philadelphia area who makes authentic Philly cheesesteaks).
Cheesesteak with pepperoni, fried onions and sweet peppers!
After lunch we started our trip to Philadelphia to visit our youngest daughter who will be having her first child, and our ninth grandchild next month. Near the end of the show there were announcements that the Halls would be closing an hour earlier because of heavy thunderstorms on the way. Weather was calling for torrential rain, hail and possible tornadic activity. The wind was picking up and the skies were getting angry. Luckily we outran the storm and made it to Philly without a drop of rain. We checked into the hotel, relaxed a bit then got ready to take my daughter and her fiancé to dinner. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, “The Pub” in Pennsauken, NJ. Of course on the way the rain arrived but just a few steady showers. Not as violent as was predicted.
9 oz. filet mignon with 8oz lobster tail, warm drawn butter and fresh green beans.
After dinner we took the kids home and headed back to the hotel. We are winding down from another great York Meet. My purchases should arrive by Friday. Then it’ll be exciting all over again!
The trip continues Sunday after a good night of rest.
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Post by Traindiesel! on Apr 23, 2023 7:51:40 GMT
Traindiesel -- I was enjoying reading your ongoing commentary about this year's spring York until I caught this in your commentary; "After the National Anthem played people began entering the Orange Hall. (And no one kneeled)." It seems that hot button political issues do not have to brought into every aspect of our lives. A number of years ago the rule in the Navy Ward Room was there was to be no discussion of sex, religion or politics therein. Perhaps that should be the rule on a this forum as well. Respectfully submitted. Jackson, I’m one of the last people that talks politics. I don’t kiss and tell and I believe everybody has their own religious experience. As Phil perfectly said, there is so much disrespect for the flag and our country my point was that none of the TCA members attending the York Meet showed any of that disrespect. The TCA Eastern Division traditionally plays the National Anthem before the doors open.
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Post by Traindiesel! on Apr 24, 2023 4:15:53 GMT
Day Five: Post York Syndrome/The Baby Shower
The York Meet has come to a close. Upon waking up this morning I sat up and thought about the great time we had at the Meet. Seeing lots of friends and meeting new ones, buying way more trains than I planned and eating like Kings. My aching feet didn’t matter. It was sooo much fun. The Meet went by so quickly. It seems like the more fun we have the quicker it goes by! Now the Post York Syndrome has set in. The realization and let down that the vendors have left, friends have gone home and I have to wait six months until October’s York Meet. I hope the sun will still shine tomorrow.
But the fun isn’t over yet! I still get to relive the joy when my purchases arrive on Friday. And today is the day of my youngest daughter’s baby shower.
The plan was I would take Lynley to the event and then I would go do some railfanning along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor just outside Philly. However, my daughter Collette told the organizers she wanted her Daddy to be there. So of course I stayed and escorted her in when she arrived.
Myself, Collette and Lynley
Of course, since she’s having a boy our gifts included the obligatory railroad themed clothing and engineer’s hat, along with convertible crib/toddler bed/ regular bed and related bedroom furniture. When the party was over Collette was very tired so we helped take home some of the baby gifts.
When that was done we met up with a former coworker and friend of Lynley’s for dinner. After another big meal we were done for the day and headed back to the hotel. I need to squeeze in some railfanning at some point before heading home on Wednesday morning!
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Post by atsda on Apr 24, 2023 19:51:59 GMT
I have enjoyed the comments on friends, food, and finds on this thread, and the thread on Reviews from York. Alfred
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Post by Traindiesel! on Apr 25, 2023 7:11:37 GMT
Day Six: A Somber Day
Today was a day of visiting with family. We went to visit my cousin whose husband passed away suddenly in February. Her husband was a big American Flyer/S gauge collector and operator. He took me to my very first train show, a Greenbergs Show at the old Philadelphia Civic Center around 1980. He also introduced me to the TCA and took me to the Meet as a guest. I was already cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs for trains, I couldn’t join fast enough!! He was also my first signature on my TCA application. (Chris Gans of Nicholas Smith Trains was the second). He had as many trains and probably more than I do. We had a lot of fun with trains over the years. I met up with one of their sons at the Meet on Friday. He told me they will keep their father’s big layout intact to operate for their sons.
We were unable to get to the funeral so we made arrangements to extend our York trip to visit with my cousin. She understood and looked forward to our visit. While there my cousin’s son, also a cousin, that I met up with at York stopped by with his two boys. He showed me a box that just arrived from Charles Ro. It contained a Strasburg observation car his Dad had preordered before his death. He is also waiting for Lionel’s Strasburg #90 locomotive.
As we said our goodbyes we planned to get together with some of our other family at a restaurant for dinner when we come back East for our grandson’s birth. It was great to see my cousin but there was a deep sadness in the air for all of us. She hoped that someday soon we could move back to the area as the ranks of our family are dwindling.
In addition to this, on the way to visit my cousin we stopped by the cemetery to visit my Grandparents grave. Lynley and I had a tough time finding it as I was going by memory and the cemetery had expanded so the landmarks were different.
We looked and looked but couldn’t find the headstones. We were about to give up and we were walking back to the car. I said a little prayer to help me find it but I was frustrated. I took a different walkway to the car and as I turned my head there it was!! Then I felt happiness come over me, like my Grandparents were happy we were there. My Grandparents and Great Grandparents, who I never met since they passed before I was born were next to each other as well as some Aunts and Uncles who I did know very well. Since we now live on the west coast I felt I needed to see them again.
After this we went to visit my cousin. Tomorrow will be a more fun day.
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Post by BobS2056 on Apr 25, 2023 14:39:49 GMT
That is one GREAT journey you took us all on, pretty personal trains and family stories.
Your cousins husband is looking down from heaven with a big smile as he listens family members talking about him and his connection to trains.
Great to see his son keeping his American Flyer trains and layout for his son and passing it down to future generations to share his passion.
The best part of your journey for ME was you chatting with Gunrunnerjohn.
Thanks for sharing,
Bob
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Post by curtis on Apr 25, 2023 17:38:16 GMT
What a great experience you have had. I am glad to have met you and wished we could have talked longer. Family is important and remembering those no longer holds us together. So great to see a prayer was answered when doing your search. Isn't it great knowing he is always there to help if we would just ask.
Don't hurt your self flapping your arms to get home but enjoy the trains when they arrive!
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Post by Traindiesel! on Apr 26, 2023 3:33:07 GMT
What a great experience you have had. I am glad to have met you and wished we could have talked longer. Family is important and remembering those no longer holds us together. So great to see a prayer was answered when doing your search. Isn't it great knowing he is always there to help if we would just ask. Don't hurt your self flapping your arms to get home but enjoy the trains when they arrive! Thanks Curtis. It was fun talking with you! It is comforting when even a small prayer is answered. No more flapping my arms to fly, can’t do that anymore. Now I take a ride on one of those mechanical flying machines! It’s late, I’m tired and we have an early flight to catch in the morning. I’ll add the final installments of my adventures after we get home.
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Post by atsda on Apr 26, 2023 20:32:54 GMT
traindiesel, I have enjoyed reading all of your recent comments about family - thanks for sharing - they struck a cord with me. Alfred
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Post by Traindiesel! on Apr 26, 2023 21:27:13 GMT
traindiesel, I have enjoyed reading all of your recent comments about family - thanks for sharing - they struck a cord with me. Alfred Alfred, it was my family, my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who taught me to be respectful, how to have fun and how to drink beer (when mom and dad weren’t looking). I had a lot of cousins and a lot of aunts and uncles growing up in the 60s and 70s. A few of them even had O gauge trains. And I was a pall bearer for most of the elders. When we go back east after the baby is born we plan a get together for dinner with the remaining cousins, just like we did before we moved west.
And I don’t mind telling you, the people my wife Lynley and I have met on and off the O gauge forums have gone from just having a common interest to becoming good friends to becoming family.
This truly is the world’s greatest hobby!
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Post by harborbelt70 on Apr 26, 2023 22:45:10 GMT
traindiesel, I have enjoyed reading all of your recent comments about family - thanks for sharing - they struck a cord with me. Alfred And I don’t mind telling you, the people my wife Lynley and I have met on and off the O gauge forums have gone from just having a common interest to becoming good friends to becoming family.
This truly is the world’s greatest hobby! That's a very fine thing to say, Brian. Actually I mean both things!
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Post by Adam on Apr 26, 2023 23:18:20 GMT
Brian, I always love your chronicles of your York adventures and this time you outdid yourself. Thanks for the great fun!
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Post by curtis on Apr 27, 2023 18:43:22 GMT
Thank You for the Honor!
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Post by Traindiesel! on Apr 28, 2023 1:24:27 GMT
But wait! There’s more!! I’m not done just yet!
Day Seven: More Trains and a Taste of Philly
With a leisurely start to Tuesday, our last full day of our York Meet trip, We took a short ride to Nicholas Smith Trains. It has been nearly six years since I’ve been to the store since our move west. This would provide some relief from the agony and suffering of my Post York Meet Syndrome. But first, we went next door to the Thunderbird Steaks and Hoagie shop for lunch.
They make tremendous sandwiches and a magnificent cheesesteak, with fried onions (cheesesteak, wit) and some pepperoni and bacon. Yummm! I really miss coming here.
After getting stuffed from lunch we headed next door to Nicholas Smith. First I took a look in the toy store downstairs. They used to have tons of K-Line trains down there. Only a few freight cars and accessories left.
Heading up the stairs to the main store. Always loved the destination cards on the steps from the SEPTA Regional Rail Silverliner trains. Some years ago the SEPTA store was selling these as they replaced the train cars. I was lucky enough to secure a whole set of them.
Inside the store is a full service hobby shop of all gauges.
O gauge, scenery materials and accessories.
Post War counter.
Ho, N and Z scales.
The glass case housing some of the latest offerings and the front counter.
To counteract my Post York Meet Syndrome, I was prescribed a pair of freight cars and to call them in the morning. The rolling stock was free but the consultation was $120. I was offered a couple good deals on locomotives but I had to limit my carry on package for the flight home and my wallet was already huffing and puffing from the York meet.
Continued.....
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