Does Super "O" track Cause Uneven Roller Wear?

This F3 has never been on Super O:

With regard to the uneven wear, if the engine travels in an oval only in the same direction, the rollers will wear more toward one side more than the other... A figure 8 will give even wear.

What caused the wear then?

For mine, miles & miles of rolling over the course of 72+ years running on mostly O-27, some O & O-72, and a little bit of GarGraves.

Really?  Wow!  The rollers on my other engines and cars look shiny like the roller on the lower right in the pic.  The only ones I have that are uneven are some of the ones my dad and I ran constantly on a bicycle wheel layout with Super "O" track around it.  They didn't run for years, but they ran for long hours at a time during two or three Christmas seasons.

@phrankenstign posted:

Really?  Wow!

The rollers on the power unit do a lot more work than on the dummy.

I ran Super-O for many, many years... with no excessive roller wear.   Steel rail is much harder than copper.  I'm with Rob on reversing direction for better roller wear.

Lionel machined rollers out of steel for many years.  These are the rollers with the stub axles on each end of the rollers. As volumes went up and there was pressure to cut cost, Lionel went to sintered steel rollers.  This was about 1949 or 1950.  These are the rollers with the roles all the way through them.  When Super O track was introduced, there were complaints about the narrow center rail cutting grooves in the rollers. Lionel responded by changing the sintered steel roller material to stainless steel.  But there were millions of the sintered steel rollers in service and in the spare parts network.  Even today it is not uncommon to find parts dealers still selling NOS sintered steel rollers. Rollers are cheap and easy to change, so I have never seen where roller wear should influence any decisions about Super O track.

An interesting design question with rollers I have never gotten answered is there are different part numbers for a couple of roller designs that are dimensionally identical, but made of different material. The rollers used on two motor locos were a different composition than rollers used on one motor locos.  In the engineering standards the different materials are only identified by the Lionel composition identification number, so I have no idea what the difference in the material is.  I am sure once they left the factory as spare parts the dimensionally identical rollers would have gotten mixed regardless of composition.

FWIW, Henning's has a track outside in front, it uses Atlas track.  We've replaced the rollers several times on the engine that goes around and round on that for days on end.

I just sent out a repair for a museum that has O and STD gauge trains running, apparently all day.  Besides replacing worn out wheels, we had to replace the pickups, some of them were worn all the way to the retaining shaft!  Remember, that little pickup is spinning a LOT faster than the wheels!

@David Johnston posted:

Rollers are cheap and easy to change, so I have never seen where roller wear should influence any decisions about Super O track.

As I mentioned above, I like Super "O" track.  Although I 100% believe the track caused grooves in one of my locomotives and some cars, they didn't get worn enough to warrant changing them.  I would in the future if it ever became necessary, but it wouldn't deter me from continuing to use the track occasionally.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Besides replacing worn out wheels, we had to replace the pickups, some of them were worn all the way to the retaining shaft!  Remember, that little pickup is spinning a LOT faster than the wheels!

I hadn't really thought of that before, but you're absolutely correct!

btw Did the rollers wear down evenly or unevenly on the Atlas track?

Pretty evenly, there was just a large trench down the center.  Pretty much the same with the museum's engines, they just had a huge groove down the middle.

One could remove the rollers and install  Marx shoes then one's rollers wouldn't wear out!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Besides replacing worn out wheels, we had to replace the pickups, some of them were worn all the way to the retaining shaft!  Remember, that little pickup is spinning a LOT faster than the wheels!

@phrankenstign posted:

I hadn't really thought of that before, but you're absolutely correct!

And they roll faster as they get smaller...

@Dennis-LaRock posted:

One could remove the rollers and install  Marx shoes then one's rollers wouldn't wear out!

Wouldn't you have the opposite problem then?  The track itself would get worn out.  Then it would have to be replaced!  I think I'd much rather replace the rollers than a bunch of track!

Does it help to lube rollers sparingly to reduce drag and wear, or would that hinder conductivity?

I rotate operation among different trains so none of them have seen enough mileage to cause noticeable roller wear in the time that I have had them.

You most certainly should oil the rollers!

@phrankenstign posted:

Wouldn't you have the opposite problem then?  The track itself would get worn out.  Then it would have to be replaced!  I think I'd much rather replace the rollers than a bunch of track!

Talking about the Marx shoes, I'm pretty sure @Dennis-LaRock was making a joke.  To which I would reply, then Mark would become a Tar Heel walking down the rail road tracks barefoot.

I don't think this question is asked correctly.  Does Super O track cause uneven roller wear?  Yes.  Under the same circumstances that other track types can cause uneven roller wear.  The better question might be does Super O track cause different wear patterns than other track?  This may be where the real difference is. 

A Marx pick up shoe is made of copper. They will wear well before the track. I have seen many that have holes worn into them. Everything can wear if run enough.

@Ace posted:

Does it help to lube rollers sparingly to reduce drag and wear, or would that hinder conductivity?

I rotate operation among different trains so none of them have seen enough mileage to cause noticeable roller wear in the time that I have had them.

Use conductive lube.