09-17-2010, 01:16 PM
ocalicreek Wrote:Why? Why does it have to be the funnest, I mean? There's a reason (or two) that many layouts never make it past the 'Plywood Pacific' stage. The reason most often given is that folks are afraid of doing a poor job on scenery - based on what they see in magazines & online, naturally. But I think there's another reason less often quoted; that some folks have so much fun building benchwork, laying track and yes, even wiring, that they reach a point where operations become possible and are perfectly content to stop there with no interior motivation to scenic a square inch. Getting trains running is the visionary goal; scenery is secondary or perhaps will always look better imagined than realized, so they think.
You are proving even by your early work, as is Steve with his shelf layout, and others, that really great scenery isn't that hard if you're willing to experiment and tear it out if necessary to start again. I think you'll do just fine - as long as you're happy with it!
Galen
Galen, there is another reason why scenery may not get done. I remember my first layout. I built it in a single car garage in my house in North Long Beach before I moved to Lakewood. I had the track down and wired for over a year before I sold the house, dismantled the layout and moved. It never got scenery because I went into that garage every night planning to do some scenery. Every time I went in I decided to run a train just to see how it looked. 2 or 3 hours later I was still watching the train run and hadn't started any scenery when it was time to go to bed!