Ron, I suspect there are a lot of people on the forum - especially new members - who have no idea what an interchange is and how it works.

Don

I am one of those newbies. I figured I would just wait and see what an interchange is by some of the replies garnered.

I have an idea of what it is...but not really sure. I figure it has something to do with swapping cars with each other or something like that.

Newbie Dan

Dan, Go back a take a look at the 2011 or further back Interchange Sitings threads. What it is basically is a bunch of us send out one of our personal cars to other layout owners around the country. We all take photos of the cars running on another layout whether it be a home layout or a club layout. It is fun seeing your car running somewhere else in the country.

We limit the numbers because there are only 10 months we do this. We try and tie up before the December Holiday package rush. We exchange cars with the next person on the list every month. Usually Jan and Feb are idle months setting it up. Last year we had some folks drop out and it caused a mailing and delivery problem. So cars were late, some cars didn't make the railroads they were supposed to, and you'd end up with a month you didn't get a car and then suddenly you get 3. I am not faulting anyone for dropping out as 'life happens'. The problem it created was we pay postage to send the cars out to each other. When you now have 3 to send out, and they have to go in separate boxes because they eventually end back up at the car owners layout, you incur higher postal costs. That sort of thing kind of takes the fun out of it.

Another problem was some of us were sending the cars Priority Mail while some used Parcel Post. So some would be getting cars later than others. Most of the layout owners have a scheduled operating session each month or every other month. What happened to me 50% of the time I would not get the cars in time for the operating sessions. I would then make a special train to move the car on my layout. This is fun, don't get me wrong, but we tend to brag about an off layout car and point it out to others during op sessions. You don't have to have op sessions but it sure helps share the fun of the interchange. You and your operators get to see somebody else's model work.

So maybe next year (if we're still here-sic) we can start this up again.

There are a set of rules that are also available for you to look at that will give you more insight on how this all works in the Program Operating Guidelines thread. It's locked and you can't post to it, but you can read it.

It is basically 10 or less per group. Mostly HO scale, at least for us, and cars have to meet certain criteria. Those are listed in the rules. This is not to say that other scales are omitted because that is not the case. If we get enough interest in N scale or O scale (other scales) to do this then they can set up their own interchange group. If we get an overwhelming request for HO scale, there is the possibility of having two HO interchange groups going at the same time. What a kick that would be to see two groups exchanging cars, photos and stories.

Thank you for the explanation Bill. That clears it up completely!

Sounds like something I might like to try in the next go-around, if there is one.

Happy railroading,

Dan Harriman

Orange Texas

Love to have you Dan. And welcome to the RR Line Forum.

Bill

Guys, I'm sure that we will get an Interchange going early in the next year. We felt we needed a break for a year.

Ron, last year did have its 'glitches', but all the cars ended up at their home roads.

Yeah Bruce, I was one of the "GLITCHERS". I really did enjoy the portion I played a part in though.

I will be looking forward to the next one, maybe wilh all of these new guys we can get a "Dueling" Interchange going. How co 8D ol would THAT be?

First, I would standardize on the 8 5/8" x 5 3/8" x 1 5/8" small priority rate box which costs 5.35 to mail. Use a couple of blocks of wood 1 5/8 thick (a little over 10 scale feet) to keep the box from being crushed, and two pieces of 8 by 5 steel (unroll a tin can) on each face to protect from a poke or puncture. Anything that's (scale) 60 feet or longer will fit diagonally, up to about a 70 foot car. And you have lots of room for padding the top and bottom of the car. This keeps the speed and the cost standardized.

Since most clubs meet on the "first friday" or "second" saturday", clubs tend to favor the beginning of the month. So, pick a day, like the 23rd, and have a rule - always mail on the 23rd. I know it's easy to remember "mail on the first of the month", but so many clubs meet early in the month.

Count me in!

Mike O

I have had great feed back from my fellow club members and from other clubs that visit us, This past weekend we had the Orlando model train club visit us and they got a kick out of this car that travels across the usa and the storys we make up. they ask how they can get in on it, Well you have to join RR-L first, I tell them and go from there.


And count me in also, We can do like what you guys did to the BSRR car, weather it as it travels to layout to layout ,I loved that idea and the feed back was great.

I posted a large map with stix pins to show where the car had been and printed some of the posts from the interchange with photos its still hanging in the hallway to our layout room.

Hey everone I would Love to give this a go. I only have a shelf HO layout, would this be an issue


Hey everyone I would love to give this a go. However, I only have a shelf layout, HO scale for sure, would size be of any issue? Us disabled folks sometimes have space issues. If ok, then count me in for sure. BTW I would try to use train stamps to mail the cars, add another point of fun into things, I am a stamp collector and have many of them.

Joe

Joseph,

The Interchange is still on a break, but we will keep you in mind when we start it up again.

A shelf layout is fine, as is a diorama. Anything on which photos can be taken showing off the visiting car.

Part of the fun is posting pictures of the car on your layout. kitforums.com has a long-running traveling car, which I've asked about relaying. Sometimes it participates in an op session, sometimes it just tours a layout.

Interesting last post….I have an old Athearn heavyweight observation that was abandoned here on my layout when the old and once quite active Railroadforum.com finally went down the drain, Tom Fassette the ‘owner’ had just paid for 5 years of hosting it when he died suddenly. 3-4 of us kept the gab/bs thread going until it went to 404 maybe around 2018?





Interchange was sort of fun but the RPO fees these days are nuts. That obs is still ‘embargoed’ on the KYSO, won’t pass interchange inspection.

Sometimes interchange cars only need to be mailed to the first person in an area, then handed off among local layout-owners. I remain interested, though I don't have time to be the primary organizer.