Frankly, I never understood those who get as far as the benchwork and track then never get any further. Geez, at least the 'painted green plywood' look you see with some 3-rail layouts is way better than that!
I would guess for a lot of people it's financial. My son's just starting a large basement layout and I'm sure unless I contribute to the cause it will run on bare plywood for a long time. My layout isn't all that big at 16x30 but the investment in many building kits and landscaping materials is in the thousands and I'm far from finished.
