AN APRIL YORK DREAM
By Gordon Wilson TCA 76-10233

Having attended every Eastern Division York Meet but one since October 1976, little on the horizon made me think that these ten days would be so special. Easter dinner with my Dad, flea marketing with a junior high school classmate from 1955, eating some incredible meals, searching out and buying some highly desirable Lionel pieces, and then having my time back East topped off with a no-hit Phillies baseball game was nearly too much “good” to believe. Maybe this was all a “dream.”

Dinner with a former student (now 34 years of age) and her family was a real treat. Laura is a Julliard graduate who is now performing in Cancun, Mexico. Her “baby” sister came along and brought with her a train set she had saved from the Christmas “throw out junk” by their father. The set? A red top, plain fluted, 3-car Flying Yankee made by Lionel in excellent shape and with boxes.

At the Philadelphia Art Museum (Remember Rocky?) was a large exhibit of the painting and sculpture of Edgar Degas. It had been years since I had been in this cultural icon of Philadelphia. What great memories!

A bit north of Philadelphia is the colonial New Jersey town of Lambertville. A frequent visitor to this wonderful “old stuff only” flea market here is Cole Gibbs, whose mother lives in nearby Yardley, PA. On neither visit did I see Cole, which probably helped me be as lucky as I was. I do not know much about cast figures except what I like. A vendor dumped, from a large blue plastic container, several hundred of them. I “dug” in and came up with 25. It wasn’t until I got to York that Shirley Hunter and Bob Herman separated them for me by manufacturer. Apparently I did okay!

Visiting with my friend Rich Bimmer of Antique Trains, he asked if I would take a couple of unusual pieces he had not been able to identify with me to York. Within minutes of arriving at our TCA Museum, Ron Morris and Phil Ritter identified the items. Both men are living encyclopedias of pre-war “stuff,” without regard for the manufacturers.

Around noon on Thursday the Internet Committee plus several current officers and Past-Presidents adjourned to the Historic Strasburg Inn for a working luncheon meeting. Everyone agreed that a great deal was accomplished. Later that same evening, I accompanied two members of the Internet Committee to a Standards Committee meeting. The purpose was to show the Standards Committee the benefits of establishing their own web site and again, the result was very gratifying.

Inasmuch as my post-war collection is missing so very little, most of my wants are color variations. So said, one of the first items to catch my attention was a pair of #68 Lionel Inspection Cars. They quite obviously had different colored roofs – one cream and one snow white. Not being 100% sure of which one I had in my collection back home, I negotiated a price for the two of them. Most of my time was spent at meetings for the Internet Committee and at the Convention Guidelines, at which I represented the Desert Division for the 2009 Convention, along with Paul Wassermann.

Manning the Internet Committee table allowed me to meet and greet many TCAers who didn’t realize we had a National presence on the Net. I also passed out a goodly number of Turkey Meet fliers and saw to it that Kalmbach was aware of when we’d like the advertising promo for the Turkey Meet in their October and November issues of Classic Toy Trains and Model Railroader. Roger Carp and CTT Editor Neil Besougloff assured me they would give special attention to this request.

Saturday morning I suddenly found myself the object of a rumor whose origins I am unaware. As I walked into the Silver Hall, I was greeted with, “I hear you’re running for TCA Secretary.” I quickly sought out Sarah Reed Lavinus, our National Secretary. She told me she too had heard it about half a dozen times. I told her that if she wanted to make some money betting, she should challenge the “soothsayer” by saying, “I’ll bet you he’s not running!” Next year will be my first year off the National Board of Directors in a decade and, although I’m sure I will miss it, I am NOT seeking, nor do I desire any elected TCA National office.

Throughout the week several of us from the Desert Division found the time to enjoy some of the York area’s finer dining establishments: The Paddock; the Round the Clock Diner (soon to be modeled by Peter Atonna), the Roosevelt Tavern and Yorktowne Hotel – long time fine dining spots; Bumper Bob’s – a strange name for a fine restaurant with incredible crab cakes; the Hillside Café – where steak is sold by the weight; and the Railroad House, an 18th century stage coach stop on the National Register of Historic Places. Yes, in true Desert Division fashion, we often travel on our stomachs.

Saturday night a Philadelphia friend of mine had tickets to a Dinner Theater performance of “Guys and Dolls” in nearby northern Delaware. Great food and a wonderful performance. A very funny musical.

Sunday, however, turned out to be one of those days you can only dream about. Again the Lambertville, NJ flea market was an early morning stop. Again, I did not see Cole or any other train collectors – their loss! My first find was a LN (no box or it would have been Mint) 494 Silver Rotary Beacon. Upon leaving at 10 AM, lo and behold, what did I spot but a 2341 boxed Jersey Central FM. Not only that, but it was the shiny blue roof version.

After concluding that it was “real,” I asked for a price and nearly fainted when the man opened a 10-year-old Greenberg Pocket Guide and said, “I’ve got to get $700.” My friend opined that I nearly broke my arm getting to my wallet.

Sunday was surely a good day, but it wasn’t done. We ate brunch at the Full Moon Restaurant in Lambertville and then headed back to Philly. As a part of my visit to the Phillies Phantasy Camp, I had been given by the Phillies four free tickets to the Phillies-Giants game on April 27. They were corporate box seats right near first base. If you follow baseball, you’ll recognize that date. Kevin Millwood of the Phillies pitched a no-run, no-hit game against the Giants as the Phillies took over first place in the National League East. What an unbelievable day April 27, 2003 turned out to be.

I didn’t want to come home because things had been so fine during this trip to York, Strasburg, Philadelphia, and southern New Jersey. This week will be hard to top in future visits!