The Rocky Mountain Test Track is a Secondary Track System.
History[]
Little is known about when the track was created. The Rocky Mountain Test Track is located in the USA and runs directly from west to east, allowing trains to pass through without taking a detour to the south.[1]
If traveling from east to west, the track goes straight for approximately a thousand kilometers, then it would reach the Berthoud Curve, going up the Rocky Mountains, near the Breslauer Weather Station, then connecting back to the main line.[1]
Throughout the Series[]
Melanie suspected that Big Alice used the Rocky Mountain Test Track to catch up with Snowpiercer at Chicago on the eve of their 19th revolution.[2] Alex would later confirm it.[1]
Snowpiercer turning at the Berthoud Curve.
Later when Melanie had to create a climate model at the Breslauer Weather Station, Snowpiercer and Big Alice travel along the track to get Melanie as close as possible to the station, allowing her to leave with a snowmobile and a snow sled to get to the station. Alex confirmed that the track is sound. Although the problem is that Snowpiercer needs to slow down when reaching the Berthoud Curve, since Snowpiercer doesn't have much energy left as they drained almost all when trying to escape from Big Alice. Wilford suggested that Big Alice could push Snowpiercer to be able to get up the mountain.[1]
Snowpiercer was supposed to travel throughout the world releasing Weather Balloons in specific spots, enabling Melanie to gather the information and create her climate model. After a month, she would be picked up by the train.[1] However, Wilford would instruct the engineers to carry on the mainline and leave Melanie to perish after seizing complete command of Snowpiercer and ousting Layton.[3] Nevertheless, Layton, Bennett, Javier, Ruth, and Alex would manage to divert Wilford and get the train to the Rocky Mountain Test Track. Wilford, on the other hand, discovered this and stopped Javier from Big Alice. Only Bennett was slowing Snowpiercer down while Wilford was speeding up Big Alice and was not slow enough to get Melanie aboard. Melanie was left track side.[4]
Shortly after the creation of the Pirate Train, leaving Wilford's Rolling Gulag behind, the group traveled back to the Rocky Mountain Test Track to get Melanie, only to find her goodbye notes at the Breslauer Weather Station.[4]
However Melanie traveled to a shed and got a Track Scaler going. After Wilford put this together, she was tracked down and rescued by Snowpiercer.[5][6]
Memorable Quotes[]
| “ | And uh… You took a shortcut? Yeah… You came over the old Rocky Mountain test track, didn't you? | ” |
| — Melanie figuring out how Big Alice catches up to Snowpiercer in The Time of Two Engines. | ||
- Bennett: "This is the old Rocky Mountain Test Track."
- Javi: "Aka Neckbreaker"
- Wilford: "But I assure you it's much more dangerous than it sounds."
- Melanie: "This high point here is as close as we can get to the station."
- Alexandra: "No, Snowpiercer is the problem. We just came over Neckbreaker, that track is sound. But because Snowpiercer has to slow for the Berthoud Curve, we won't have enough speed to get up that mountain."
- Wilford: "But once we're through the curve, Big Alice can activate our booster. It can give us just enough torque to take us over."
- Melanie: "That's correct."
- ― Snowpiercer and Big Alice's engineers discussing Melanie's journey to the Breslauer Weather Station in A Great Odyssey.
| “ | Well, we have a thousand kilometers of dead-straight track before the Rockies. Let's see what two engines can do. | ” |
| — Melanie in A Great Odyssey. | ||
- Melanie: "Hey, Rocky Mountain Test Track."
- Alexandra: "Neckbreaker."
- Melanie: "Not this time, though."
- Alexandra: "When Snowpiercer gets to the Berthoud Curve, Big Alice will be all the way back here. Firepower and strength will get Snowpiercer through this crazy vertical. Then at the highest peak you have to get out and take the sled all the way back to the station."
- ― Melanie sees Alex's map in her bunk in A Great Odyssey.
| “ | You don't think Wilford's gonna notice you made that turn? […] It's test track. It's rough. He's gonna feel it. | ” |
| — Sykes after Bennett made the turn in Into the White. | ||
Trivia[]
A map in A Great Odyssey, shows Neckbreaker in America. However, Wilford's map at the end of Ouroboros and a computer screen in Setting Itself Right, shows it in Canada. Since Wilford used Neckbreaker as a shortcut to get to Snowpiercer, the American location is probably the correct one.
- There is a facility located on Neckbreaker (a shed), near the station, with a lab with Suspension Drugs and a hanger that houses maintenance vehicles, plows, and Track Scalers. Bare-bones autonomous machines, not designed to support life that could go on for years, with interiors barely the size of a broom closet.[5]
Gallery[]
