phrankenstign posted:John23 posted:The worst roller wear is mostly caused by arcing from dirty track. I've replace a lot of rollers that were only run on tubular track. Lionel did make them out of a softer metal for a while which worsened the problem. Even with clean track there will still be wear if you run a lot. Fortunately most rollers are easy to replace.
Arcing caused by dirty track may be one reason for roller wear, but it doesn't negate the fact Super O does cause additional wear. I don't know what kind of metal was used to make the rollers on my engine, but perhaps it was that softer metal you mention. I do know the wear has been minimal since my dad took apart his Super O layout, and we switched to using Lionel's O27, O, FasTrack, and later K-Line's SuperSnap and Super K track. I'm surprised you've had to "replace a lot of rollers". I've never replaced any---not even the grooved ones.
I personally haven't had to replace any rollers on my own equipment. I have been running trains on Super O track since 1958, wear has been minimal. I did replace a lot of rollers on a club layout that did public shows. Some were worn almost halfway through. It used tubular O gauge track for about 14 years. It was replaced by a Gargraves layout and the wear time on the rollers has improved. As far as arcing damage, there are other threads on this forum that talked about that at length. I don't recall what the period was that the softer rollers were used, but maybe that is what you had. My two 1958 engines show very little wear, and they've been operated mostly on Super O.
