American Dream - Red Rocks Junction

American Dream – Red Rocks Junction
Eine sofort befahrbare Anlage für den passionierten Betriebsmodellbahner

Welcome to my personal American Dream, the fancy named “Red Rocks” Canyon and the nearby situated railroad junction where a mainline of a North-South operating railroad company crosses the tracks of an east-westbound line and a part of the legendary “Route 66” highway.
Red Rock could be a little town, situated in a wider part of Red Rock Canyon, where the Red Rock Creek (in my phantasy one of the numerous tributaries of Colorado River) cut its way through the eponymous red colored stone.
Although the situation is free-lance, the layout gives a spectacular impression to similar real situations in the Utah/Arizona region of the United States where after a hot and sunny day the red walls of the canyons begin to glow during sundown.
The layout runs in my favorite period, the “transition era” between 1955 and 1960, in the last days of remaining steam traction, but due to the lack of adequate contemporary rolling stock, buildings and other material you will find of course also materials from other periods and from other regions on this layout. As EEP plans to publish new US-material you soon may replace some elder rolling stock and buildings by a more detailed stuff.
Due to the restricted copyright regulations in the US-market unfortunately all famous road names had to be omitted from the rolling stock and be replaced by phantasy-names. On the other hand may this be an advantage to those free-lancers among us who use the whole material in a more generic manner.

Automatic mode: During the automatic traffic which lasts about 1 hour you make the acquaintance of the whole layout by remote controlled cameras. When the last train is disappeared the camera switches back to the starting monitor. If you like you can repeat the whole procedure by clicking again on the “starting throttle” with Shift+ Mouse.

Manual mode:

This feature allows you to run all your trains manually and turn all switches, the turntable, signals etc. The street and air traffic remain automatically as well as the interlocking devices at railroad crossings and street junctions so that you can focus on your tasks when splitting and reassembling the trains.
Operation
The 2 railroad lines (South-North and East-West) are linked together at the station “Red Rock Junction” by an interchange track where cars from one line can be exchanged to the other line. Both lines are highly run by thru traffic: Heavy trains with coal from Oklahoma and the Appalachian region are pulled to the Pacific coast for shipping their load to overseas. Until the end of a nearby beginning steep incline, the pulling diesel-engines are still often supported or entirely pulled by the last steam-dinosaurs, the famous “Big Boys” which experience their final days on this line. As the empty running trains in the opposite direction do not need so many powers, from time to time a package of steam and/or diesel engines is coupled together and runs light back.
Also some long distance-passenger trains still remained on the line, which are equipped with INOX Steelcar-material (on the layout the material is freelance shaped and colored, in reality you can see similar trains on some Amtrak Lines).
On the other line you will see long tank car trains coming from the Mexican Gulf providing the industries in the North with gas and oil.
You will find several marshalling yards and areas on the layout: The first one starts as fully shaped half of the local “Red Rocks Central Yard”. It continues –by virtual connection- after passing the Interstate- bridge at the very right (east) end of the layout in a “hidden” part for local operation and for the long distance trains.
Of course also the local industries in Red Rocks have to be supplied from time to time. From the right (east) end of the layout to the left (west) end these are:
• Coal for the power plant.
• Grain for the local region and as intermediate grain elevator on its way to the west coast –towns.
• Oil and plastic pellets for different end-products of a chemical plant, connected with:
• A household- and kitchen-aid factory.
• A metal manufacturer of machinery parts.
• An Army goods depot for different things needed for the barracks and bases in the region is situated directly behind the big roundhouse and can only be reached via Red Rocks Main Street.
• A team track for heavy loads as well as for direct transshipping is located near the railroad crossing of Red Rocks-Station Road.
• And of course fresh supply for the diesel tank and coal bunker at Red Rocks Jct. Roundhouse.
Come see and listen to the whistles of the steam engines and the horns of the roaring heavy diesels. Look for Rolf’s spectacular “illegal” air show and enjoy the multitude of exciting tasks for a successful operating session!
Jörg Windberg
The author may say thanks to all constructors who contributed some of their models, ideas and advice to allow the realization of this layout: Hans-Jürgen Barth, Andreas Engfer, Andreas Großkopf, Bernt Hoppe, Stefan Hoppe, Dirk Kanus, Stefan Köhler-Sauerstein, Steffen Mauder, Volkhard Ramsenthaler, Ariel del Rio, and last not least Thorsten Lensing and Trend publishing for some models of the heritage of Stefan Bock (t), for Manfred Roth’s models and some models of Soft Pro.

Station-Nothing_Hill, W-Bruecke-H18-L10, W-Bruecke-H18-L11-End, W-Bruecke, Horizon3, horizon360_2, Leuchtbuchstabe_6_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_A, Leuchtbuchstabe_C_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_D_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_E_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_I_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_L_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_M_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_N_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_O_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_R_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_S_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_T_AE1, Leuchtbuchstabe_U_AE1, Tankstelle_BS_Bude, Tankstelle_BS_Dach, Tankstelle_BS_Saeulen_rot, Faulturm, Firehouse-1, Werk-2_BH1, DBAG_ICE-T2-Tz1156-411-256-EpVI_USundec_SK2, HJB_West_Barhhouse, HJB_West_Besandungshaus, HJB_West_General_Store, HJB_West_Haus, HJB_West_Hotel, HJB_West_Mercantile, HJB_West_Saloon, HJB_West_Schild_RailCross, HJB_West_Station, HJB_West_Wassertank_geschlossen, HJB_West_Wohnbaracke, Windrad, Pferd_1, Pferd_1_Dynamic, Pferd_1_Static, Pferd_3, Pferd_3_Dynamic, Pferd_3_Static, Pferd_5, Pferd_5_Dynamic, Pferd_5_Static, Pferd_1_Dynamic_Rllmt, Pferd_1_Dynamic_Rllmt_Path, Pferd_3_Dynamic_Rllmt, Pferd_5_Dynamic_Rllmt, Doppeldecker_Rolf, US_BOX_undec01_SB1, US_BOX_undec02_SB1, US_BOX_undec03_SB1, US_Gw_RI_RB_Erz_undec, US_Gw_RI_RB_Sand_undec, US_Gw_RI_SW_Erz_undec, US_Gw_RI_SW_Kalk_undec, US_Gw_RI_SW_Sand_undec, US_Gw_SP_rb_undec, US_Gw_SP_rb1_undec, US_Gw_SP_rb2_undec, US_Gw_WP_sw_undec, US_Gw_WP_sw1_undec, US_Gw_WP_sw2_undec, US_Tank_Car_Frame, BigBoy_4012_a_undec, BigBoy_4012_b, US-Steam-Mogul-8_undec, WPR-Baggage_undec, WPR-Caboose_undec, WPR-Dining-Car_undec, WPR-Sleeping_undec, BigBoy_4012_Tender_undec, US-Tender-Mogul-8_undec, DBAG_ICE-T2-Tz1156-411-156-EpVI_USundec_SK2, FW1-Fuhrwerk-Hell-S, PK1-Kutsche-FW, HJB_Lincoln_Beige, HJB_Lincoln_Blau, HJB_Lincoln_Pink, HJB_Lincoln_Rot, USeasyrot, USeasyschw, DK1_US_Plakatwand_31, DK1_US_Plakatwand_32, DK1_US_Plakatwand_33, DK1_US_Plakatwand_34, DK1_US_Plakatwand_35, DK1_US_Plakatwand_36, Fahne1USA_SW1, Nissenhuette_grau_SH1, Bahnhof_Silverton_Besandung_SM1, Gate_House_35_DK1, Signal_Tower_53_DK1, VW_Samba_kbraun-sglrot_US_IM_BH1, HJB_BH1_Indianer_Haeuptling, HJB_BH1_Miner_Geh_schaufel, ALCo_RSD_4_5_undec, ALCo_RSD_16_undec, DD40X_6900_undec, DD40X_6946_undec, GE_44ton_Switcher_USArmy2_us, SD70ACe_undec,VW_Samba_kbraun-sglrot_US_BH1, Kenwoers_Auflieger2_SM1, Kenwoers_Auflieger4_SM1, Kenwoers_Truck1_SM1, Kenwoers_Truck2_SM1, US_Kofferauflieger_1_SM1, US_Kofferauflieger_2_SM1, Offroader4x4_gelbStr_SM1, Offroader4x4_grauStr_SM1, DK1_US_RailRoad_Crossing1, US_Searchlight_Signal

Der Autor dankt allen Konstrukteuren, die durch die großzügige Beigabe ihrer Modelle, aber auch ihrer Anregungen und Ideen zur Umsetzung dieses spannenden, jedoch selten realisierten Themas beigetragen haben (in alphabetischer Reihenfolge): Hans-Jürgen Barth, Andreas Engfer, Andreas Großkopf, Bernt Hoppe, Stefan Hoppe, Dirk Kanus, Stefan Köhler-Sauerstein, Steffen Mauder, Volkhard Ramsenthaler, Ariel del Rio, und last not least Thorsten Lensing und der Trend Verlag, u.a. für Modelle aus dem Vermächtnis von Stefan Bock (t), die Modelle von Manfred Roth sowie von Soft Pro.
Da sogenannte „Ausbauanlagen“ oder „Teilanlagen“ den User erfahrungsgemäß nicht wirklich befriedigen, habe ich mich angesichts des spürbaren Mangels an amerikanischen Modellen wieder entschlossen, auch ältere Modelle aus früheren EEP-Zeiten zu konvertieren, um sofort und ohne die zu Recht bei Usern unbeliebte Nachbeschaffungs- und Ergänzungsarbeit einen abwechslungsreichen Betrieb zu ermöglichen.
Aus rechtlichen Gründen des US-Markts mussten leider die meisten der verwendeten und mit Namen bekannter US- Bahngesellschaften ausgestatteten Modelle, natürlich in Absprache mit den Urhebern bzw. Rechteinhabern, anonymisiert werden. Sie werden in den Listen als „undec(orated)“ geführt, damit die beim User möglicherweise vorhandenen Originaldateien nicht überschrieben werden.
Einzeln betrachtet, mag manches Modell nicht mehr sehr zeitgemäß wirken, jedoch wird ein User getreu dem Motto „Das Ganze ist immer viel mehr als die Summe seiner Teile“, sicher den Fahrspaß auf einer durchgestalteten Anlage zunächst in den Vordergrund stellen.
Da mittlerweile bei Trend laufend US-Modelle neuerer Produktion in den Shop gestellt werden, ist es dem interessierten User aber natürlich unbenommen, die in der Anlage vorhandenen Modelle allmählich und ohne den Betrieb der Anlage einschränken zu müssen, durch entsprechende Neukonstruktionen zu ersetzen oder zu ergänzen. Bis hier freilich ein abgerundetes neues Programm vorhanden sein wird, dürfte es noch ein weiter Weg sein, auf dem die älteren Modelle für das „US-Flair“ weiterhin unverzichtbar sind.