Grooves in rollers

What kind of track are you running it on? I remember super O used to do this as the center rail was thin.

What kind of track are you running on?

I've had it happen on some PW items that have been in the family. It wasn't too painful to remove the pin and roller to be replaced with new parts. These trains have only seen traditional tubular.

Bottom line, regardless of track system, the rollers are a wear item. There are some things you can do to extend their life, the biggest is to make sure they roll freely without a hint of resistance. I always use CRC 2-26 on the roller pin.

I'm running Lionel's Fastrack.

I had this happen with some engines and cars on 0-27, but not on Fastrack.  Make sure you are adding a drop of oil on the rollers to help lubricate them.

There has been more than one "spotty quality" issue with center-rail rollers in the modern (80's and forward) 3-rail era. The Lionel scale-size 4-4-2 from the 90's (I have one) had rollers that would corrode and stop turning, though regular oiling (like, nearly every time you ran it) would get past the problem.

A 100-hour loco should not have grooves (discoloration, sure) in the rollers, especially running on that chubby Fastrak rail, I would think. I hope this isn't a sign of another bad roller batch.  

The sintered metal rollers are soft and as said before are sacrificial. 

I have rolled a small strip of brass shim stock around a grooved roller and soldered it in place where as removing the pin and having to find and buy a new roller seamed like more trouble.  The brass shim is harder and will out wear the original roller. 

Since I have Marx 1590 switches and have decreased roller wear by installing tracks pins to close the gaps in the center rail.  Install these track pins ( or cut off finishing nails) in the inside non moving center rails.  see below link for picture.

http://dfarq.homeip.net/2004/0...nel-trains-together/

Charlie

Hope some use the good info in the above link.

Charlie

The roller is easily replaced on the M1a, so it's not a huge issue if you need one.

I've not experienced this, having few miles behind me, but I would not harden the roller. Something has to give. I would not sacrifice my track to save a roller.

E-UNIT-79 posted:

What kind of track are you running it on? I remember super O used to do this as the center rail was thin.

I used that track when I was younger and never had a problem from that and I also was told that wasn't factual. It was believed to do so but didn't any more than any other type of track. It still boils down to how freely your rollers are rolling. 

If you ran the locomotive exclusively on the carpet or floors each Christmas, it is very possible the rollers picked up some debris -- particularly if you have furry pets -- that prevented them from turning freely on their axles.