Need advice on Roadbed for new Layout

In my opinion if you have homasote down and are using Atlas/Ross the "easiest" way is no road bed at all.  A friend of mine's double decked 2-rail O layout was done strictly on homasote (flat yard areas and spline construction on the right of way) and there was minimal noise.  Ballasting was done right on the homasote and tapered up to the ties as on the prototype. If you desire the "look" of a raised roadbed right of way then as you say there are cork (for now?) and other flexible products.

Hi David,

I have used foam roadbed from the "sparks" guy on e-bay as described in this thread and worked well for me.

Track roadbed type and material | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum

On the North Shore ....

I believe there is a new advertiser here on OGR that is offering cork roadbed again. It was just posted on here a few days ago, but I forget the name of the company.

Jeff

Thanks for the responses so far. Do I understand that using screws through the vinyl roadbed into homasote would not significantly increase noise? It would be ideal to use track screws to secure everything, particularly as I'll be using quite a bit of Atlas FlexTrack to make custom curves throughout the 3 mainlines.

I watched a video recently which recommended using track screws until the ballast and glue was installed, then removing the screws and let the glue hold everything in place to prevent noise. Opinions on that approach?

David O.

I love RossBed. Easy to cut and shape, if needed. Takes paint eaisly. Available for Atlas and Ross track.

My 2011-2021 Atlas layout.

My new layout, started in 2022, all Ross track, switches and RossBed.

2022 pictures:

Recent pictures:

It's always great that when I call, it is usually Steve, the owner, who picks up the phone.

Peter

Peter: Very nice looking ballast and layout.