An idea for the trainz community

[Enzo1]

Mods, if this thread is not in the right section of the forums, please place it in the correct one! Thank you.

I am wondering if this kind of an idea would work and/or see how many people would be interested. I was having a discussion with a fellow trainzer who happens to be doing similar activities in trainz to what I am, and uses similar road power to what I do for it and he proposed the idea of having like an operators session. I think we are well aware of something similar to this known as Model RR clubs, but perhaps something similar could be done for a trainz operating session. I wouldn't use MP, as it is unreliable and takes away much of the freedom of trainzers doing what they do best.
The idea would look something like this:
The club/group leader would set forth what RR's would be seen:
As an example: I would say that CN, CP, UP, NS, BN, and CNW along with Pool power from other RR's and CCW or your own fictional shortline are all fair game in any operators session
Era is going to be the 90's to the present day.
Each member has their own route which handles different things and will be specified the member himself.
I would create a specific Trainz Chat channel directly related to our group.
The members would then put trains together with specific operations and destinations:
example: Member#XXX: CN Train XX is run-through with cars to be setout at Irish City yard for interchange at Irish City Co-Op railway.
The idea would be to connect the routes we're using with Iportals at which I have found to be the most reliable way to interact with other users.
There would be one specific time and day at least once a week (Don't worry, I know we all have jobs and lives. For example, I work nights which could conflict with other members schedules) that at least a decent amount of the members get together and have an operators session and screenshots from that section would go into a thread directly related to the group.
All members would be free to run trains in a session any time they wish with anybody.

I don't know, but I kinda like the idea. I'd like to see some other people's take on it as well. This could perhaps be something that could be a source of much fun for some members.

 

[dragonharh]

Sounds interesting PM me the details on skype.

 

[MeowRailroad]

Didn't/doesn't some JR members do something like this with their PA Shortlines Group, but instead of Iportals, they simulated interchanges on their own routes and sent each other spreadsheets with car data, numbers, loads, etc.
http://trainzforums.com/index.php?topic=4386.0
I always read this thread when I need inspiration.

 

[Enzo1]

Didn't/doesn't some JR members do something like this with their PA Shortlines Group, but instead of Iportals, they simulated interchanges on their own routes and sent each other spreadsheets with car data, numbers, loads, etc.
http://trainzforums.com/index.php?topic=4386.0
I always read this thread when I need inspiration.

Yes they do. The plan would be to do something similar to this. I just thought that using Iportals would be easier for everybody to get in on. Please feel free to add your own remarks and ideas on this.

 

[KenRuof]

I have been iPortaling for a while now, it is fun although I am not much into the 90's to present environment. I tend to run my freelance road and sometime Pennsylvania equipment. PM me if I can be of assistance and maybe join if the modern spirit gets me.

 

[Enzo1]

I have been iPortaling for a while now, it is fun although I am not much into the 90's to present environment. I tend to run my freelance road and sometime Pennsylvania equipment. PM me if I can be of assistance and maybe join if the modern spirit gets me.

Interesting, I was hoping that others could jump aboard and create their own as well, just like you who do different eras, you could get a few members who also do the same and create your own group. I was just bringing such an idea to attention to grab peoples interests in doing such a thing, as it seems like a fun idea to me.

 

[MeowRailroad]

How do Iportals work? What happens if you drive a loco thru it that the receiving person doesn't have? If you drive thru what happens on the receiving end?

 

[BDP]

If you send someone a train who doesn't have the content installed, then the train will not produce on the receiving end and the train will be lost forever.

 

[Enzo1]

How do Iportals work?

For it to work correctly, you must have the other ends iportal ID so that you can create the destination for that train to go once it travels through the iportal.
The other end must have yours so that he can send trains to you. This works for more of a direct interchange action rather than producing a large amount of spread sheets with data and etc.... However, anything is possible through discussion with group members.

What happens if you drive a loco thru it that the receiving person doesn't have?

Nobody gets the train. It just goes into an abyss where it will never be seen again. If I recall however, I swear I have seen iportals spit the train back out because it couldn't get to it's destination.

If you drive thru what happens on the receiving end?

The person on that end will have to right click on the specific iportal that one sent the train to and hit create train to get it. The train then pops out of the portal with all of its consist and the driver and the person on the other end is ready to roll with the train to wherever he wants it to go.

 

[Sentenal]

This sounds like it could be a lot of fun....I am interested in doing this if it gets off the ground.

 

[Falcus]

This kind of an operation is something a few friends of mine and I were looking at for awhile (*Nods @ Ken*).

Theres a number of considerations to be made here. In the end, most of us couldn't get routes we were happy with enough to really make this work really well, so we've kind of fractured & Splintered off from each other, but when we do all get on to TS together once in a while we still talk about it. It really ranges from the fold that have litterally just cobbled together a DLS Route or 5 and plinked a couple Iportals down, to folk like me that went nuts and decided to do a full recreation of our local/favorite Railroad Areas. The Seattle area map I've been working on originally started as a response to this project.

A few ideas however stuck with me.

-Iportals make the most sense to me. Quick and easy way of sending trains to each other without having to do all the background work of setting up trains yourself just to run them a little bit on your route and send them on.

-Having some kind of "Master Geography" adds a level of sophistication and flair to the entire experience, and gives more people a reasons to work together (Example, to get to Bobs Route from Jeffs, Jeff has to send his Train to Craig's Route, Craig has to run it accross his route to the other end, and then send it to Bob")

-Having a "Master Yard" somewhere that one person can run operations from/through would really help organize the entire thing (IE, Gerald is sitting on a big flat route of say 40 Base Boards, with 25 Sidings that can each hold a 250 Car train so he can recieve and send trains where needed for whatever reasons, either to help other players out that need more time, to take ready trains off other players hands, or to just send random trains to people to keep them on their toes).

-One of the good things about Iportals is that, as long as both players (Sending and recieving) have all the assets/rolling stock, you can use whatever cars/locomotives you want. This circumvents the DLS ONRY limitations of Multiplayer. It was one of the draws for most of the people in the group when we started out. Jointed Rail AC6000s? SURE! K&L 2-10-4s? YOU BET! One of the awesome things about this is that it means if Player A wants to operate in the steam era, and Player B wants to operate in Diesel era, they can still play together. There are some logistical considerations to be taken into account, but my plan at least had been to have a set of Recieving Tracks available near the Iportals to pull/replace w/e power I decided to Run on them. But honestly, why not just run that latest Mixed Goods train with the Steam Power on it through your route as though its an Exhibition or For Profit company like the 261 foundation? Skies the Limit here.....

-TS. You could use Skype, or Ventrilo, or Team Speak, or whatever else. But instant communication is very very helpful. One of the things I liked about Iportaling over the MP was that, the ability to make up and send trains, IE Interact with other people *In* the game, was much more frequent then the SUPER In-frequent Rail Meets on most MP Maps. Real time Communication then becomes a tool to orchestrate this, rather then just something in the background to BS with other folk while the Miles roll past.....

Anyway, if anyone here proceeds forward with anything like this, I'd appreciate a heads up. IDK when or how often I'd be able to participate, but I'd love the chance at some point.

-Falcus

 

[Enzo1]

This kind of an operation is something a few friends of mine and I were looking at for awhile (*Nods @ Ken*).

Theres a number of considerations to be made here. In the end, most of us couldn't get routes we were happy with enough to really make this work really well, so we've kind of fractured & Splintered off from each other, but when we do all get on to TS together once in a while we still talk about it. It really ranges from the fold that have litterally just cobbled together a DLS Route or 5 and plinked a couple Iportals down, to folk like me that went nuts and decided to do a full recreation of our local/favorite Railroad Areas. The Seattle area map I've been working on originally started as a response to this project.

A few ideas however stuck with me.

-Iportals make the most sense to me. Quick and easy way of sending trains to each other without having to do all the background work of setting up trains yourself just to run them a little bit on your route and send them on.

-Having some kind of "Master Geography" adds a level of sophistication and flair to the entire experience, and gives more people a reasons to work together (Example, to get to Bobs Route from Jeffs, Jeff has to send his Train to Craig's Route, Craig has to run it accross his route to the other end, and then send it to Bob")

-Having a "Master Yard" somewhere that one person can run operations from/through would really help organize the entire thing (IE, Gerald is sitting on a big flat route of say 40 Base Boards, with 25 Sidings that can each hold a 250 Car train so he can recieve and send trains where needed for whatever reasons, either to help other players out that need more time, to take ready trains off other players hands, or to just send random trains to people to keep them on their toes).

-One of the good things about Iportals is that, as long as both players (Sending and recieving) have all the assets/rolling stock, you can use whatever cars/locomotives you want. This circumvents the DLS ONRY limitations of Multiplayer. It was one of the draws for most of the people in the group when we started out. Jointed Rail AC6000s? SURE! K&L 2-10-4s? YOU BET! One of the awesome things about this is that it means if Player A wants to operate in the steam era, and Player B wants to operate in Diesel era, they can still play together. There are some logistical considerations to be taken into account, but my plan at least had been to have a set of Recieving Tracks available near the Iportals to pull/replace w/e power I decided to Run on them. But honestly, why not just run that latest Mixed Goods train with the Steam Power on it through your route as though its an Exhibition or For Profit company like the 261 foundation? Skies the Limit here.....

-TS. You could use Skype, or Ventrilo, or Team Speak, or whatever else. But instant communication is very very helpful. One of the things I liked about Iportaling over the MP was that, the ability to make up and send trains, IE Interact with other people *In* the game, was much more frequent then the SUPER In-frequent Rail Meets on most MP Maps. Real time Communication then becomes a tool to orchestrate this, rather then just something in the background to BS with other folk while the Miles roll past.....

Anyway, if anyone here proceeds forward with anything like this, I'd appreciate a heads up. IDK when or how often I'd be able to participate, but I'd love the chance at some point.

-Falcus

Thank you for the very insightful post Falcus.
I have a question on something you brought up though.
What exactly do you mean by a master geography? This is a term that could have a few definitions, so I thought I would ask directly what you meant here.
For me, the master yard is going to be Irish City Yard, as it is the hub of most of the action. I was thinking that somebody could make their own shortline with an interchange with any of the class 1's I mentioned above, but this is not a requirment, as Irish City Co-Op railway will do most of the delivering if nobody else has a shortline. Industries are a must, and one could take what industries they have, and interact with another members industries.
Please do explain further on how you worked it out though or any ideas you have, they are a must in gather crucial information about how something like this would work out.