If your drawings aren’t scaled properly, miscommunication and other unfavorable results occur. Similarly, the idea of scaling external references, blocks, text, and the plotted drawing itself in AutoCAD is important because it impacts how things are installed and built to code in the field. Without considering scale in each of the components, the model is confusing and inaccurate.
In the case of a model train and its surrounding terrain, scale is important because the model visually represents an accurate depiction of what a real-life train and its surroundings would look like. If you’ve ever seen a model of a small electronic train chugging along a little metal track lined with cotton-ball bushes and a painted foam mountain, you’ve seen how important scale is.