Are Ross roadbeds well made for Atlas "O" 3 rail track

Our club modular layout is all Atlas straights with Rossbed and RCS switches. The Rossbed for Atlas track fits perfectly.

They offer Rossbed for your 0-99. For the 40" straights, just use four 10" pieces. Their price sheet is on their website. PRICE SHEET

Gilly

Hello Gilly !!!!

Many thanks for the price sheet. The prices is 3.49 for the 099 curves and 2.49 for 10 inch straights X 4 for 40 inch straights. The prices is not too bad.  Are the roadbeds snap on or have the glue it on ?  Are they made of plastic and have to be painted ?  I wondered if there such a thing to make metal clips to clip on the bottom of the roadbeds between sections to keep them from coming apart when running the trains ? The clips should be easy to be removable with out breaking my nails !!

many thanks guys

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678

Tiffany

The track presses into the Rossbed. No glue is necessary. Atlas uses track joiners, there are no additional clips or fasteners associated with Rossbed. It does need to be painted. We use Rustoleum "Stone" paint. It comes in a variety of colors. The gray with black flecks looks very much like ballast.

Gilly

Rossbed is not a good choice for a carpet layout. Its made of foam, and it generates an unbelievable amount of dust from friction against other surfaces. Its also very fragile and easily broken. The way to use rossbed is to figure out where you want it, and glue it to a substrate with foam safe adhesive. It needs to be painted. I prime it with grey primer, then top it with Valspar "Manhattan Mist" Stone paint. Primer is 1/3 the price of stone paint, so you may as well make it grey with cheap stuff, and save the expensive paint for just an overspray of texture. If its getting ballasted with stone, I'll just spray it with gray primer, so if any ballast breaks loose its not as obvious.

Here's what Gilly is talking about........

It also decreases the amount of ballast you need (fills in more space that plain cork or foam roadbed).

Peter

Another benefit is that you can cut the roadbed and stagger the joints between the track and the roadbed, locking things in place better. For curves, cut the first piece of roadbed exactly in half with a razor saw. Start and end each curve with the half piece, the track joints will now end up in the middle of the roadbed section. Since the roadbed is milled with a CNC you now hold the complete curve in more accurate alignment.

That looks pretty good. I was set on using Flexxbed, but now you all have me re-considering. The Rossbed looks really nice after painting and I like the parts about staggering the sections for better placement holding. Foam will add quieting like Flexxbed also. I may not even ballast if using the Rossbed, at least it looks that good in the pictures!

L&N..........Atlas track has the rail joiners (Which Ross track does not) .

if you try to stagger the RossBed for Atlas, you will have to dig out for the rail joiners.

Peter

Its also very fragile and easily broken. The way to use rossbed is to figure out where you want it, and glue it to a substrate with foam safe adhesive. 

I disagree with the above statement. Ross roadbed is great for Carpet Central Layouts as the porous surface of the roadbed seems to "grab" the carpet fibers. using a can of Fleckstone paint, it's looks good for quick ballast! This stuff easily snaps into atlas O track sections and quiet's the trains on many surfaces. when Painted with the flexpaint, it is NOT as fragile as one might believe. 

Considering your other option is the Atlas O roadbed, the Atlas O Roadbed is not worth the money and effort as it's way too fragile and breaks more easily than the Ross Roadbed does. the corck"ballast" also flakes off too easily as well.

I was going to suggest Atlas-O roadbed, but according to prrhorseshoecurve's post above it might not be all that good for what you are doing with it? I have no experience with it.

hello guys and gals............

Since there's not much choice out there so perhaps I can buy few of the Ross road beds and try it out.  Gilly and prrhorseshoecurve both say they are good and from them, they have worked with it with good results from the pictures shown of the layout.  I like their idea of using stone paint spray can. Perhaps the foam road bed is not as soft but bit stiff ?

many thanks guys,

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678

Tiffany

One thing to consider is once you put the track in the Rossbed, leave it alone. It is a snug fit. If you try to pull it out, then you can break it. As for the bottom if the Rossbed, just put a strip of clear packing tape on it and trim it along the edges.

Gilly

Hello Gilly...........

I got it, thank you for letting me know .  Any other tips ?

many thanks guys,smile

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678

Tiffany

Ross also makes roadbed for Atlas switches. They are really nice. Keeps the switch level (prevents twisting which can affect the mechanical operation of the switch and switch machine).

The original material Ross used was a tan or beige color. They lost their supplier and now use a blue/gray material. The new material is a little coarser than the original and tends to have more foam dust. It really needs to be painted to keep it from shedding dust when handled.

I have my Atlas track/ Ross roadbed permanently mounted and really like it. Get the beige roadbed if Ross still has it in stock.

Ken

I was not aware of Ross roadbed for Atlas track until this thread.  The painted roadbed looks mighty good.  I have some Flextrack and some GarGraves, but have not started a permanent layout yet.  In HO I always used cork roadbed.  I always thought ballasting was tedious, especially on turnouts.  I will have to consider this.

hello guys and gals...............

Can Ross roadbeds with Atlas track be used for floor carpet layouts ?

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678

Tiffany

Can someone provide the overall width of the Ross roadbed for Atlas track, at it's widest point (bottom)?

Thanks!

I would not use it for a floor layout.........it would fall apart.

Peter

hello guys and gals.......

well someone here may have a idea to make it work for floor carpet layouts, how will it fall apart if gluing the roadbed to the track ties?

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678

Tiffany

hello guys and gals.......

 

well someone here may have a idea to make it work for floor carpet layouts, how will it fall apart if gluing the roadbed to the track ties?

There is no need to glue. Once you fit the Atlas O track in the Ross Roadbed first time it stays in. you might use some doublesided tape underneath the roadbet to really hold to a carpet but IMHO it's unnecessary. As stated above:

One thing to consider is once you put the track in the Rossbed, leave it alone. It is a snug fit. If you try to pull it out, then you can break it.

I have some new pieces as well as some used pieces purchased from a forum member. I have yet to create a major breaks in the foam when pulling out the track... only small nicks on the edges due to manhandeling. respray with the fleckstone paint and it's gone!

I would not use it for a floor layout.........it would fall apart.

Peter 

I don't know where Peter is comming in on his synopsis but I have yet to have any major issues with this item. I do have the earlier tan roadbed and it holds to a carpet.

Orignally posted by Escaperocks:

Can someone provide the overall width of the Ross roadbed for Atlas track, at it's widest point (bottom)?

 

Thanks!

3" wide on the bottom.

Tiffany, before you go "gung ho" on  a purchase, why not just buy two or three pieces and test it out yourself. [a curve and/or a couple of straights 4 example]

If you like, then buy the rest. If not, no big loss as many of the pieces are $2.49 EA  from the latest price sheet off the webpage.

I do have to let you know the fleckpaint takes a while to dry on the roadbed [give it at least 24 hrs] but once dry, it looks good. and if you want to advance to ballast, use the roadbed and place the ballast on top of it. The stuff will have you using less ballast per foot of track. I hope this helps.

hello prrhorseshoecurve..

I will buy few pieces of roadbed and will try them out as I really do want to run my trains on the carpet due to space required for 0-99 curves so its the best place for it. It is probably the best thing for it. 

thank you, for clearing this up

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678

Thank you PRR!