@phrankenstign posted:...[Roller wear of the center rail] 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...
...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...
...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... 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...
As long time readers of the Forum will recognize, I have been, and continue to be, a major fan and proponent of Super "O" track. For me, the lack of the readily available wide-radius curves has precluded my continued use, other than for occasional Christmas layouts. Some Forum members have hand-made truly exceptional wide radius Super "O" track, and have built the most gorgeous layouts with the track. I have operated state-of-the art Lionel locomotives on one of those beautiful layouts. (Actually my scale, 5 stripe Williams GG-1 never looked more graceful than on those wide Super "O" curves!)
Without doing the research, I'm fairly confident that my original green GG-1 was built prior to 1957, although the loco wasn't gifted to me until Christmas of 1961. Several hobby shops in our area each had "new" inventory left over from the middle 1950's, likely due to the declining interest in Lionel trains. In 1961, my father purchased enough Super "O" track at a very significant discount to build a good sized layout for me. This purchase was made from a local hardware store that was selling all of its Lionel inventory, and permanently leaving the train business. So, I had a good sized layout with two locomotives, a few freight cars, and a very great interest in Lionel trains. My friends and I ran that GG-1 very often on the outer loop of a two-track mainline having one, very long, 11foot straight away.
And, after the passage of nearly 60 years -- since Santa brought that GG-I on Christmas morning of 1961 -- those roller groves on my GG-1 have never hindered my operation of the locomotive on at least four different brands of O Gauge track.
