..I recommend cork on the foam. Not only does it give you a good contour to ballast, but putting the track straight on the foam can result in noisy track. Cork absorbs much of that noise.

The really nice thing about using foam is that you can use really cheap plywood.

Hi Homer,

I am in a similar phase as you in building a model railroad. And I am in your neck of the woods. Atlas is not far from my home in Lapeer. You can follow my progress at LK&O Blog. As I learn answers to questions similar to yours I am trying to post the information as it pertains to the LK&O. Don't have a lot of answers for your specific questions today other than to say there are a lot of variables in some of them which makes hard answers nearly impossible.

Jeff has already answered the foam question, so I'll attempt to answer a couple more of your questions.

First, I'm not sure of the age of your turnouts, but they should be able to be made into DCC friendly turnouts.  Joe has some great clinics and his video set is also very good.  You can watch his clinic in the MRH theater at this link: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/mrht_dcc-good-bad-ugly  Although the last video is probably most relevant to your question, the rest of the segments are very good information as well.

Joe also wrote an article in the very first Issue of MRH about curve radii, which would be very relevant for you to download and read - article thread here: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/mrh2009-01/curve_insights and the Issue 1 download page here: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/mrh2009-01/download

Finally, as to track design, its always mentioned to do some reading.  John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation and is often cited as one of the best for design, as well as Tony Koester's Realstic Model Railroad Design.  Also, some good web resources (as well as "pro" designers that you might use) are Byron Henderson's Layout Vision (http://www.layoutvision.com) or Lance Mindheim's website (http://www.lancemindheim.com/ and http://www.shelflayouts.com/).  Both websites offer some great information and either one could get you a design if you chose to go that route.

Hope this helps.

The previously cited book by John Armstrong is a great guide for fitting a model railroad into the space available.  In it he discusses his concept of squares.  This section is worth reading and rereading until you "get it".  Basically the size of the "squares" is determined by the layout's mininum curve radius. 

Conventional wisdom is that in HO scale longer equipment,  say full length passenger cars and piggy back flats, require a mininum curve radius of 30 inches.  The square for a 30 inch radius is 34 inches.  Thus you would need a bench top width of 68 inches for a turn back blob.

Pelle Søeborg who is currently the hobby's hottest scenery expert in print built his first layout with track laid on foam which for him was not a good idea.  His subsequent efforts have used the traditional cork on plywood sub-roadbed with styrofoam scenery cut to fit around it.

Thank You I like to look of the cork road bed, and I have a large amount of cork in stock.

Homer

Thanks for the reply, I'll keep checking your LK&O Blog for your progress

Homer

Aran, I've still in HO, but I like the On30 scale as well, Just to many thing in HO to switch now.

Homer

Jeff, I was at the Milwaukee show this year, I enjoy a lot of the booths, spend a little to much on inproving my HO stock, but I was looking for a professional design company for my next layout, I didn't get any answers on which design company to use.

In my earlier post I encluded a room size for HO layout I've contacted three designers and all are to busy for just a design they wanted the whole layout project. I would like to model the balance after the track is in place.

Do you know of a couple?

Homer

Byron Henderson has had a layout design in every issue of MRH, I think.  I don't know if he only does entire layouts or if he will just do the track plan for you.  He is an advertiser here at MRH, I'd contact him and ask if he isn't one of the ones you have contacted already.

[ed: Byrons website is www.layoutvision.com ]

 Third comment down.  I'll repeat the one paragraph here:

Finally, as to track design, its always mentioned to do some reading.  John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation and is often cited as one of the best for design, as well as Tony Koester's Realstic Model Railroad Design.  Also, some good web resources (as well as "pro" designers that you might use) are Byron Henderson's Layout Vision (http://www.layoutvision.com) or Lance Mindheim's website (http://www.lancemindheim.com/ and http://www.shelflayouts.com/).  Both websites offer some great information and either one could get you a design if you chose to go that route.

Byron only does design, no construction, so he'd probably be a good place to start.