Which "permanent" brand holds up better with repeated assembly?

Of the two, I would select Ross. Spiked wooden rails and everything glued together. Track pins that can be tightened with a pair of pliers. You didn't mention switches. Ross is my #1 choice. Atlas wouldn't be #3 on my list.

Atlas has plastic ties with "nubs" that hold the track. It is very easy to accidently strip a rail off Atlas if it is handled roughly. The track joiners are good. But, especially when new they can be a real booger to get the joints to fit together. I have punched more than a few holes in my fingers with screwdrivers pushing on these things.

We use Atlas on the club modular layout. I do not think we would select it again.

Ross is a better choice for repeated assembly. If it gets loose, the rails are easily tightened around the pin with a pair of flush cutters squeezed under the rail head. 

Ted S posted:

I may need to set up some "temporary" layouts in the near future.  For a variety of good reasons, my track choices are limited to ONLY Atlas or Ross.  I have enough knowledge of these to know that neither one is ideal for temporary floor layouts, or repeated assembly and disassembly. 

I seem to remember that when Atlas O track debuted, folks used to Lionel tinplate quickly discovered that the track joiners tended to get loose, causing voltage drops, stalling, etc.  Is this still true?  I also know that it can be hard to push together Ross and achieve a smooth joint, unless you file the little "bump" off of the pins (and then the sections tend to work apart.) 

For those who have used either of these brands to set up multiple temporary layouts, which one in your experience holds up better over multiple uses, and creates the most reliable operating experience?  NOT trolling or brand-bashing, just looking to benefit from some first-hand experience.

Ted ,

Yes, it is true, the original Track Joiners for Atlas Track did not have enough "Spring Steel" in them & they did not stay tight!!  BUT, that was corrected early on!!! I used Atlas Track ( & the New Rail Joiners) on my Layout ( 40' x 50')  18 years ago with "NO" problems whatsoever !!!! I am using that same Track & Rail Joiners on my present Layout today !!!

Fredstrainsj

For temporary layouts, I would use Ross or another tinplate-style rail.  Atlas track itself is designed to be more scale appearing and the way it is constructed (versus Ross, which is similar but not the same as Gargraves), it is more fragile IMO, as are the rail joiners versus the pins tinplate uses. That doesn't mean you couldn't use Atlas track, you could, but you would need to be a lot more careful taking it apart/putting it together, to avoid putting too much tension/torsion on it while assembling/disassembling. Even the fixed base rail (fastrack, for example) can more easily get damaged with this kind of use from my experience with it,despite being designed for this kind of use (the tabs mostly were what I ran into with my holiday/floor use of fastrack, not to mention being somewhat impatient).