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Hello sharilayu, It's best to have use cork or foam roadbed under any track -- pre-fab or handlaid -- to minimize noise and provide a proper ballast profile. Foam is good, but in my opinion cork roadbed and/or Homasote (a dense paper product sold in many home-improvement stores) is better. Check <a href="http://www.trains.com/maghomepage/maghomepage.asp?idMagazine=3">www.modelrailroader.com's</a> site for links to books about building benchwork and small layouts for more information. Lay the track first, then build the scenery. Sure, you can do it the other way, and some people have, but the success rate is much lower. Lay the track carefully, work out any trouble areas, and make sure your trains run smoothly before tackling scenery makes the layout more fun. Some nights you may not feel like building scenery or structures, so you've got the layout to operate. You'll see the MR's project layouts that the scenery is built last -- get the mechanics right first, then dress it up! HO scale is 1:87, while OO is 1:76; that means OO scale is bigger. HO scale figures will look a little small. Check the Web to see who offers OO scale figures. Continental Modeler magazine might be a good site to check for sources. Trains.com is the best place to get illustrated online stories about building a layout. You'll find a wealth of help under Layout Construction and the other navigation links on the left-hand side of MR's home page at <a href="http://www.trains.com/maghomepage/maghomepage.asp?idMagazine=3">www.modelrailroader.com</a>. Regards, Paul Schmidt
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