03-25-2012, 12:43 PM
I found this on the web, not sure how much of a copyright issue it presents, but it's certainly been out and about elsewhere. (I think it may fall under "fair use" for the purpose of comment. I got it from the Files section of the V&O Historical Society Yahoo group, so I'd say its pretty close to public-domain.) I'm posting it here as an example of how some modelers see their railroads in terms of interchange, and I think this may be something like what eightyeightfan has in mind:
For instance, if I wanted the Zellerbach paper mill in Smith Junction on my AB&C to get wood chips off the V&O, I'd be thinking of it in terms of the wood chip loader in Elm Grove. "Paperwork" would reflect that, and the shipment might involve routing over an intermediate layout.
It seems to me that you'd have to have a certain number of people participating to start to have a map like this, and the specific problem here is that it's permanent -- if a new guy joins BigBlue and wants to interchange, it would be a hassle to update whatever records we had to accommodate the new layout. Not to say it couldn't be done, but there'd have to be a good level of commitment among the core people involved.
I would say that this is part of the hobby vision of guys like John Allen and Allen McClelland, and it's worth some effort to see if we can continue to make it work.
For instance, if I wanted the Zellerbach paper mill in Smith Junction on my AB&C to get wood chips off the V&O, I'd be thinking of it in terms of the wood chip loader in Elm Grove. "Paperwork" would reflect that, and the shipment might involve routing over an intermediate layout.
It seems to me that you'd have to have a certain number of people participating to start to have a map like this, and the specific problem here is that it's permanent -- if a new guy joins BigBlue and wants to interchange, it would be a hassle to update whatever records we had to accommodate the new layout. Not to say it couldn't be done, but there'd have to be a good level of commitment among the core people involved.
I would say that this is part of the hobby vision of guys like John Allen and Allen McClelland, and it's worth some effort to see if we can continue to make it work.