‘N’ GAUGE LAYOUT EAST ANSTEY
WESTWARD BOUND
When Wayne Webb was searching for inspiration that would allow him to run both Western and Southern Region stock, a small station in North Devon proved the perfect subject.
Words: Richard Gunn
1 Maunsell ‘N’ No. 31844 rattles through East Anstey with a mixed goods train. Wayne’s rolling stock has been thoughtfully detailed and weathered.
Photography: Chris Nevard
What makes this layout great?
“Wayne has managed to capture the look and atmosphere of a genuine West Country rural backwater, with the versatility to run Western and Southern steam and diesel. He’s cleverly squeezed a lot of real world Devon village into a tight space. ”
2 A ‘Large Prairie’ breezes towards the station with a Down train. The layout captures the small rural village feel well, with carefree children playing in the lineside garden and an oblivious cat relaxing on the privy roof.
For many of us, a model railway can recapture memories of past times. Such sentiments certainly influenced Wayne Webb when he started his ‘N’ gauge ‘East Anstey’ layout – at least in terms of what he wanted to run, if not the actual location. For although he lives around Milton Keynes, it was to the bucolic south west of England that he turned his attention, driven to revisit the types of trains he recalled growing up around Northolt in West London. “Western Region locomotives have always been among my favourites; I wanted to do somewhere I could run some of them as well as Southern Region stock. But I also wanted to do a branch line. Then I came across the Taunton to Barnstaple line in North Devon and it seemed ideal.”