Lancaster County PA Realty Check: Pennsylvania: Strasburg

If you are a collector, operator or admirer of toy trains, the biggest network of like-minded enthusiasts is the Train Collectors of America, or TCA.  And for myself and thousands of other toy train fans, the biggest event is the twice-annual TCA Eastern Division Train Meet, held at the York, PA Fairgrounds.

The Eastern Division York Train Meet is considered the Mecca of all train meets.  It's the largest and finest toy train show in the world.

The meet runs Thursday through Sunday every October and April.  It's been running every year since 1954, and every year gets a little larger.  This year over 14,000 TCA members were in attendance, including me!  Unfortunately, the meet is open to members only.  You must be sponsored by a TCA member to become a member, but the TCA is open to families and kids.  I have been a member since 1982.  13,000 members pre-registered, and 1,000 registered at the door this year.  There were over 2,700 dealers in attendance. 

The TCA is headquartered in Strasburg, PA, where they also operate an excellent Toy Train Museum, which is open to the public.

The York Fair was America's first fair in 1765.  York Fairgrounds has been the location of the York Fair and other special events since 1856 in its present location.

I have taken photos only of the exterior of the  fairgrounds and the show, because no cameras or cell phones are allowed inside the buildings - for the trains, antique toys, and dealers' security.

The buildings are a mix of nineteenth century barn style and modern edifices, such as the new Toyota Arena.  The train show usually takes up seven or eight separate buildings; it is that big. 

There is also a separate supervised kids area, with Thomas the Tank Car type rides to keep them busy while their parents see the show.  American Flyer, Lionel, Bing, Ives, and other famous brands are for sale,

This year the Eastern Division Train Meet was so successful that some dealers were totally sold out by Friday! 

Copyright2007BrianSchulman©

As a member of The Train Collectors Association since 1982, I feel privileged to live nearby the focal point of the TCA, the Toy Train Museum.  The museum is located at 300 Paradise Lane, in Paradise Township near Strasburg, PA.  It was built as a replica of a Victorian train station, and houses some of the finest collections of toy trains, buildings and accessories in the world.  The museum is open to the public for a small admission fee (free to TCA members).

Collections of Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, Ives, Marklin and many other famous brands of trains are on display, along with railroadiana from the earliest days to the present.  You can see early cast iron Victorian trains, large standard guage trains from the 1920s, wooden trains made during the steel shortages of WWII, postwar O-guage, and later HO (half-O scale). 

Many of the displays are real operating dioramas of railroad stations and small towns with miniature cars, people, countryside and realistic sound effects.  Adults will feel nostalgia as they revisit toys that they haven't seen since their  childhoods.  The kids will enjoy the experience, too, and you'd be surprised how they enjoy the earlier toys!  The Toy Train Museum is open daily starting May 1 through the warm months.

Copyright2007BrianSchulman©