Wiregrass - A Very British American Layout

2003-11-21

Whilst on a recent holiday I had the pleasure of meeting retired Lieutenant Colonel David Swan. David lives in a remote village just north of the Welsh town of Brecon - an area famous for its scenic beauty and towering Beacons. In the early 80s David found himself in far more dynamic surroundings. He was stationed at the famous US training base at Fort Rucker, Alabama - where he was the British liaison officer to the US Army. It was a post he maintained for almost 4 years.


During his stay, David would often visit the nearby town of Enterprise. The town has something of a rich history and is perhaps the only place in the world where you will find a statue venerating an insect! Many years ago, Enterprise was at the heart of the thriving cotton industry. That was until the Bole Weevil came to town. The tiny insect cut a swathe through the surrounding fields leaving the entire cotton crop in ruins and the towns folk facing utter destitution. What were they to do? That's when someone had the bright idea of sowing an entirely new and different crop. Not cotton, but peanuts. The rest is history. The peanut proved to be an instant hit and so - thanks to the Bole Weevil - the people of Enterprise were able to turn their cotton disaster into a multi-million dollar success from which everyone benefited.


Enterprise is also famous for its trains. In the late 40s, the town was once a link in the WCRR - which would later become the Atlantic Coastline Railroad. Back then, the WCRR trains sported a very distinctive purple livery. Although eye-catching, this colour scheme proved to be far too expensive to maintain and would soon be phased out. For a brief moment in history, however, it was perhaps the most instantly recognisable livery around.


Like many of us, David Swan harboured a creative desire. One day, when he returned to England, he would build a model railway. Not, he thought, based on a prototypical British theme - but something that would celebrate his time in Enterprise. And that's exactly what he did!





The layout is called "Wiregrass" and lives in (what can best be described as) a purpose built cubby-hole between David's house and the garage. The main scenic area measures some 6 feet in length by 2 feet in width. This is connected to a fiddle yard on the opposite side of the room and a train must traverse a section of track located against a third wall in order to travel between the two areas. The actual track is N-gauge finescale produced by British company PECO. The entire collection of rolling stock, however, is American. Many of the locomotives have been manufactured by Bachmann - which David describes as far better runners than their British counterparts! Sadly, models of such American prototypes are almost impossible to buy off the shelf in Britain and David has to rely on a network of friends and the Internet in order to track down the stock that he requires. I'm also reliably informed that no-one manufactures rolling stock sporting the distinctive purple livery of the WCRR. This means that David has been forced to recreate the colour scheme himself - in the time honoured tradition - with a paintbrush!


The layout features a residential area bisected by a busy high street - which has been modelled, building by building, on the town of Enterprise as it is today. David has gathered together a heap of photographic reference from which he was able to scratch build each property as required to fit into the scene. The effect is not only pleasing to the eye but a fitting tribute to David's modelling skills and dedication to the project.





With its distinctive red earth contrasting nicely with the green scrubland, Wiregrass certainly looks the complete picture - and yet David tells me the project is far from finished. Some of the track requires relaying and re-ballasting and a few of the buildings are incomplete. There are many cold Welsh evenings ahead for the retired Lieutenant Colonel but I hope to pop back at some stage to see how he's getting on. In the meantime, David has uploaded the first of a series of photos into the User Gallery - which you can view here.