@Choo Choo Charlie posted:Below is from The Siicon Underground web site
"That copper center rail is also a cause of controversy. The rail caused some of the pickup rollers to develop a groove and wear out prematurely. A change in the composition of the metal solved that problem. Proponents of Super O say that was never a major problem anyway.....That said, I’ve never seen any convincing evidence of Super O track damaging a pickup roller made after 1957.
It seems to be mostly a problem of people believing what they want to believe. If you happen to run into the problem, replacing the pickup rollers is an inexpensive repair and doesn’t require a great deal of mechanical skill to do. And pickup rollers will wear out regardless of the type of track you use, if you run your trains enough."
Charlie
Paragraph 1: It never was a major problem. It was something many people did notice, because grooves appeared on the rollers of some of their items---both motorized and non-motorized. There was never a conspiracy against Super "O" track. (I'm still a fan of it, despite having rolling stock and a locomotive that suffered from it just like Dennis.) For some unknown reason, many of those who were lucky enough to NOT have grooves form on their rollers refuse to believe those who did. Why? I have no idea! Some people smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day and never develop lung cancer. Some smokers do get cancer. There are a lot of reasons for each, but that doesn't mean smoking doesn't increase the odds of developing lung cancer.
Super "O" track came out in 1957. The grooves only appear after MUCH, MUCH use. Of course the damage had to have occurred after that year. Your statement almost seems to imply you've seen evidence of the damage in 1957 or before, but that doesn't make sense.
Paragraph 2: Yes. In the daylight, everything is easier to see. When there's no light, everything is difficult to make out. When using certain trains on "O" and "O27" for many years, the rollers looked fine. After using them for awhile on Super "O" track, some people started noticing uneven roller grooves started to form on certain trains. Operators without any hidden agenda against Super "O" track started to find out their observations were shared by others. I don't know any who immediately refused to continue to use the track. It just became something one was aware of when using Super "O" track that couldn't be helped. If you like to set the temperature to 65 degrees in the summer, then you just accept the fact you're going to have to pay a higher electric bill. In that same vein, people who use Super "O" track accept the fact they may have to replace their rollers a bit sooner than normal. Having Super "O" fanboys try to negate the observances of many others because they believe the track to be the embodiment of perfection is laughable.
