03-21-2012, 08:23 AM
Railroad Line Forums has a program that's maybe somewhere between the Big Blue boxcar thingy here and what you have in mind. In that, each participant sends one car from his layout (whether private-road or just anything off his layout) around on a circuit determined by the number of people who sign up in a given year. There's no "interchange" per se, in the sense that modeler A models the DM&IR and sends ore to a steel mill on modeler B's PRR layout. Instead, a sort of freelance narrative has been imposed that I find somewhat silly.
There are some features of that program that I don't like and can see not being used in a better one. The first is that it's sort of an annual event, you have to sign up well in advance, and if you miss the deadline, you can't even ask to get in until the following year. This stifles interest from potential participants. The second is, again, the rather silly narrative that accompanies the posts.
The good feature is that it furthers the fellowship and creativity that can be at its best on a good forum (like this one). On one hand, though, there's no special need that it be associated with a forum, though if the forum is good, there's offline interaction among many members, and that would simply foster this sort of interchange. On the other hand, if it were completely offline, it could lead to in-groupery and cliquishness.
Another issue could be that Modeler A has weekly op sessions and wants to route his ore offlline in some quantity, but he can't locate a Modeler B who has a big enough steel mill and op sessions frequent enough to satisfy A's requirements. The whole thing would have to be flexible enough to accommodate this sort of discrepancy.
You'd also have to deal with the problems of modelers losing cars, cars getting lost in the mail, modelers losing interest, etc. But heck, for starters, I'd contribute an expendable car or two or three to this sort of program!
There are some features of that program that I don't like and can see not being used in a better one. The first is that it's sort of an annual event, you have to sign up well in advance, and if you miss the deadline, you can't even ask to get in until the following year. This stifles interest from potential participants. The second is, again, the rather silly narrative that accompanies the posts.
The good feature is that it furthers the fellowship and creativity that can be at its best on a good forum (like this one). On one hand, though, there's no special need that it be associated with a forum, though if the forum is good, there's offline interaction among many members, and that would simply foster this sort of interchange. On the other hand, if it were completely offline, it could lead to in-groupery and cliquishness.
Another issue could be that Modeler A has weekly op sessions and wants to route his ore offlline in some quantity, but he can't locate a Modeler B who has a big enough steel mill and op sessions frequent enough to satisfy A's requirements. The whole thing would have to be flexible enough to accommodate this sort of discrepancy.
You'd also have to deal with the problems of modelers losing cars, cars getting lost in the mail, modelers losing interest, etc. But heck, for starters, I'd contribute an expendable car or two or three to this sort of program!