Hi Folks,
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was exploring how I might work Lionel's new LCS Sensor track into a new Atlas-O layout without doing any surgery to the LCS track itself -- not that that's a bad approach... I just didn't want to go that route, especially if there was a way to interface an LCS Sensor track untouched.
I knew Atlas-O made rail joiners that transitioned from Atlas-O track to Lionel tubular. And I knew Lionel made a transition track designed to link Fastrack with tubular. So that was essentially my plan... namely, to use purely stock items available from most dealers carrying Lionel and Atlas-O track -- with the two caveats being the resulting arrangement would be both functional and esthetic. On the esthetics front, I wasn't looking for perfection -- just something that was pleasing to the eye and didn't stand out as something too kludgey.
So here we go... here's a photo of the LCS Sensor track with Fastrack-to-Tubular transition pieces on either side:
I was intrigued by Rossbed (available for Ross and Atlas-O track) by Ross Custom Switches, after seeing it at York a couple of years ago. I liked the way that the Atlas-O track would actually "fit" into the custom-milled Rossbed roadbed pieces. So I purchased a few straight pieces to see how it would work in this environment. As luck (or design 
) would have it, the rail profile (height and width) when placing an Atlas-O piece of track in Rossbed matched PERFECTLY with the Lionel Fastrack transition pieces. All I needed to do was trim a small section of Atlas-O's plastic tie-bed so the Atlas-O track would butt up directly against the Lionel Fastrack transition piece using the Atlas-O tubular rail joiners (Atlas-O part #6095). Here's how things looked at first glance:
Note that although the rail profiles matched PERFECTLY, the roadbed itself did not... which was actually not a huge problem at all. As observable in the above photo, the Rossbed is slightly lower and narrower than the Fastrack roadbed. But not so much so that a little ballast covering couldn't mask the discrepancy. So before ballasting, I spray-painted the Rossbed with a flat granite/gray. The color was not critical -- just a neutral color so the light color of the Rossbed foam wouldn't be visible beneath a thin ballast coating. (See below)
Next I used Woodland Scenics "Gray Blend B1395" coarse ballast over the painted Rossbed, and here's a close-up of how things looked right at the transition to the Fastrack:
Here's more of an aerial view as well...
Perfect? No. But workable for me? Absolutely! And better than I had hoped. 
Yes... it's true that the real ballast has more texture/granularity than the imitation ballast that's integrated into Fastrack. But the difference wasn't so stark to be objectionable as a showstopper... at least not to my eye. What do other folks think?
Anyway... just thought I'd share this approach for those folks who are thinking of building a new layout based on Atlas-O track and also want to incorporate Lionel's LCS Sensor technology without doing surgery to the Sensor track. Obviously, if you've already laid Atlas-O track on an existing layout with different roadbed, then this approach may lose some or all of its merit... and you may find doing some LCS Sensor track surgery is a better approach for you.
In my case though, I'll soon be starting fresh with plans that include two loops of O-Gauge track as part of a combined O-Gauge and Standard Gauge layout. And the Rossbed product will definitely be part of the bills-of-material when it comes to laying the Atlas-O track. 
David
