Interesting Hypothetical Question

BUT, you could look at it the other way.  A good looking, or say, one's favorite train may not necessarily need scenery to look good.  Hence "shelf queens" and other things like that.  If that makes sense

**Edit:  I also agree with Gilly.  I'm just looking forward to getting the plywood down and running trains.  Scenery is less of a priority

I heard about a local layout that was almost all about the scenery and no actual running.  Given the effort to get the track down and wired, I'm gonna be running on bare plywood for a little while.

Gilly

I suppose that it all depends upon whether you enjoy operating your trains more than making a model?

I have next to no scenery on my apology for a layout, yet I can spend many happy hours sitting there and running my trains. My scenery is in my mind's eye, as I watch my trains thunder across the plains, traverse mountain ranges and sweep majestically through canyons and cross mighty rivers.

Yes, having some real scenery would be nice, but not having any does not diminish the pleasure that I get from my trains one bit.

I see what you're saying, but I'm talking about an actual layout, not trains whose main purpose is for display on shelves.

I know that, as am I.  I was simply providing an example.

Interesting question.  It really cuts to the 'passion' side of the hobby interest.

But, I was a bit amused by the concept of scenery w/o trains for another reason....

Elsewhere on this forum a thread is running re Model Railroader magazine's annual April issue spoof...this year a rivet counter trade topic.  A few years ago their April Fool's Day spoof was an article on building a"Rails-to-Trails" layout..you know, the conservationists' approach to reclaiming former railroad right-of-way.

So there it was...a nice HO layout/diorama thingy with nary track or train anywhere.  Just a dirt-covered roadbed through town and vale with bicyclers, walkers, joggers, etc. enjoying the trail.  Lots of 0-2-0's...no 4-8-8-4's!

So, per your original posit...only scenery...why not?

KD

Forum member Susan Deats has a huge layout with no scenery, and it's probably the most fun-to-run of any I've seen.

For myself, I gave up on scenery a long time ago. Green carpet does it for me.

I had a large HO layout back in the 1980's and never got around to doing any scenery.  Plenty of action running trains until I had to move.

At this stage if I had to choose I'd rather have nothing than half a slice.

In the many years since I inherited my Grandpa's layout (1955) I've left it as it was. It is 100% prewar tinplate with every available building and accessory that Lionel created until his death in 1947. I just completed a 8'X 12' addition with only track and carpeting. I enjoy watching my trains when they exit the busy "city" portion and run on my flat "plains" addition. I'm able to run both Std & O-Gauge together. It does get busy in the crowded "city" portion. When in the "plains" I'm able to enjoy my trains without my vision being blocked. I guess my answer would be without scenery LOL.

No scenery, kind of like going to a play and concentrating exclusively on the actors. It had better be one heck of an actor or it would get boring very soon.

You know I've been thinking quite a lot lately about question A in your scenario.  I have an 8x20 "Bonneville Flat" type layout which is all O Gauge.  I have a heck of a lot of scenery on it from mountains, open meadows, buildings, etc. and recently I have begun to realize all of that scenery is taking something away from visual enjoyment of the operation of the trains.  I would love to take all of the scenery out and bring in a nice loop of Standard Gauge to run along side of the O Gauge.  However, the amount of work involved seems to be a little daunting and at this point in my life I don't know if I have it in me.  Its fun to think about and visualize though.   

Interesting question. For most of my years in this hobby I had zero scenery. When I was a kid it was a loop on the floor of a spare bedroom and the "tunnel" was the track that went under the bed. My current 25' x 15' layout went a lot of years with no scenery as well. I was so enamored with my carpentry that I was reluctant to cover it all up. I'm doing scenery now and while it seems to be turning out OK, it's not my favorite thing at all.