Does anyone have the roadbed sold by Ross Custom switches? If so, can you post pictures? Does it have to be painted and ballasted? If it looks good I may consider going that route for the remainder of my layout. I've ballasted using real stones and glue/detergent/water mix quite a bit in my life with good results, but it is painstaking and time consuming, so am exploring options.
Thanks.
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I have not heard of it before but I am willing to try using it. Where do you find it on the Ross website, under what heading?
I purchase the DZ-1000 switch motors from Ross.
Lee Fritz
Absolutely use it on each and every switch. When I ballast, my preference is to avoid the points on the switch. The Rossbed provides a very nice surface for ballasting the edges. The natural color is "Blond". I use the splatter paint as well.
Page 5 on the price sheet. ROSS
Hey! Look what I found surfing the 'ol InnerWeb! Pictures of Rossbed on my layout!
I have cork roadbed (25 years old) and have no hands-on experience with foam roadbed, Ross or otherwise, but have known someone who has used a foam roadbed in HO scale, but I don't know the brand.
It was fine at first, but over several years it began to lose its integrity and shrink or sag under the ballast. I think that he replaces it as time goes by with cork.
Which has nothing known to do with Ross products (love their track, etc.), including the roadbed...but, it does have to do with foam. Some foam, at least.
Cork is stable and predictable; some say that it "gets brittle over time"; it does, I guess, but I don't care, as I don't exactly go move my layout or track around just for fun. It lies there undisturbed, bothering no one, and not shrinking or sagging.
I have no axe to grind; just relating facts.
I think forum member Putnam Division had used the Ross road bed with Atlas track and also posted some good pictures of it here somewhere. I think I asked him about it and he had been using it for a while and was also happy with it (this was a year or two ago). I searched for the thread and pictures, but couldn't find anything? Maybe he will see this and post a link or some more pictures?
I use luan(floor underlayment plywood)as a shim to elevate the rail head top on the Gargraves and Ross Custom switches to the same height(top of rail) of the Gargraves track I use, the Gargraves track is mounted on Midwest Products cork road bed. A sheet of Luan is inexpensive, I laid the Gargraves and Ross switches & wyes on the luan,traced the outside of the ties with a Number 2 pencil and used a jigsaw to cutout the pencil shape, overlaid the switch/wye on the cutout shape for fit as a base mounting shim as a check, modified if necessary, and used this as a pattern for additional cutout pieces.
Luan is nailed to the base plywood with wire nails, switch/wyes attached to luan and base plywood using Gargraves 3/4 inch long slotted head screws, these screws also used to mount Gargrave track to cork roadbed and base plywood.
Paul,
I'm sure someone has better photos than these, but check out the first post in my thread from a little over a year ago when the Lionel LCS Sensor track was introduced. I was playing around with Lionel FasTrack along with Atlas-O and I used Rossbed for the Atlas track. I'm using my iPad now and can't get the hot links to work, but if you cut and paste the following URL into your browser, the thread will open and you can see the small section of Atlas-O track joining the Lionel Fastrack.
https://ogrforum.com/t...-atlas-o-and-rossbed
I can say unequivocally that the Atlas-O track fits snugly into the Rossbed. A perfect match. And I would have no qualms using it on an entire layout, if you're using Atlas-O track.
Hope this helps a little.
David
P.S. Looks the forum software made a hyperlink out of the URL, so you can link to the thread directly from here. I just couldn't make an active link with regular inline text using my iPad for some reason (like I can on my desktop).
Thanks Dave and others, Dave's pictures show that this can be made to work and look realistic. Does anyone know if the Ross is the same height as cork = 3/16"?
It looks like it could be a workable alternative, although the cost for the foam roadbed is high compared with cork, but if you ballast on top I am thinking you would save on the quantity of ballast since the foam forms the beveled sides, i.e., you would only need a thin layer of stones.
Paul,
I have been selling some Ross switches lately. I have some extra Ross roadbed if you are interested. I don't see an e-mail in your profile. E-mail me if interested. Barry
Apologies for resurrecting a close to 4-year old thread – I thought it was more recent than that even though I constantly come back to look at it - but it’s the first one that I could think of now that I finally purchased some Ross Roadbed.
Painted the roadbed yesterday and laid them out today with the Atlas track for my Christmas layout that’s under construction. I like the look a lot and am happy with finally pulling the trigger on the purchase after a couple of years. No need for track screws as this track is not sliding anywhere.
On the small 20-piece ground level loop I used 2 cans of Rustoleum Stone Gray spray paint. Man, those things are expensive! Boilermaker1, paying homage to your post in another thread...
https://ogrforum.com/...1#151914096192359071
…I wish that I had seen your post before. I thought the can was $4 like the rest of the paints around it (it was on the incorrect shelf) and found out differently at the register 
. Will most certainly follow your gray primer method in future applications.
Kevin, your track roadbed combo look good.
How time flies. Since initially posting this thread, I went the old-fashioned route and have been ballasting with stones, using glue, etc., and still have a considerable way to go but made progress each year.
Kevin, Really nice job!
Can any of the long term users of Rossbed comment if the product has stood up over time - any chipping, dusting or cracking?
Thanks
Wow amfleet that track looks good I am going that route when I get ready to buy my atlas track. Even though the paint was expensive it looks so good.
@Lionelzwl2012 posted:Wow amfleet that track looks good I am going that route when I get ready to buy my atlas track. Even though the paint was expensive it looks so good.
Why not just go with the Vinyl Roadbed! No Painting, just install it!! My entire Layout ( 40’ X 50’ ) was Atlas Track on Vinyl Roadbed ! Turned out Beautiful! And reduced the Sound Level considerably!!!
I used the Ross roadbed on my last layout along with Ross sectional track and switches as well as Gargraves uncoupling tracks. I loved how the track ties would countersink about halfway into the roadbed-very realistic look! I also used Brennan's Better Ballast on top of the roadbed.
Since I knew it would take me sometime to get all of the ballasting finished, I used the Krylon Stone Accents "stone" paint as a temporary cover to the yellow foam material. That gave the roadbed this sort of look which was fine for a layout in progress.
Here's what how the mainline looked with the Ross roadbed and ballasting. Notice the nice "shoulders" effect you get from using this roadbed material.
I plan to use the Ross roadbed on my next layout here in our "forever home". It's a good product at a very reasonable cost.
@Pat Shediack posted:I used the Ross roadbed on my last layout along with Ross sectional track and switches as well as Gargraves uncoupling tracks. I loved how the track ties would countersink about halfway into the roadbed-very realistic look! I also used Brennan's Better Ballast on top of the roadbed.
Since I knew it would take me sometime to get all of the ballasting finished, I used the Krylon Stone Accents "stone" paint as a temporary cover to the yellow foam material. That gave the roadbed this sort of look which was fine for a layout in progress.
I'm definitely leaning towards using Rossbed on my near-future layout. This limits me to only using sectional track, but that's okay.
I also plan on using ballast on it, but I thought, wouldn't it be great if Ross made it gray instead of the pale-yellowish color? I suppose that would add to the cost of it though. As users we also have to factor in the cost of toning down the color with spray paint.
pat, those pics of before and after are great. you and I thinks alike. untill you ballest all the track it can still look ok.
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