Question for owners of older 3rd Rail

I have not experienced any problems like that, in fact I have purchased Sunset/3rd Rail pick-up roller assemblies and used them on Lionel steam models, since the Lionel rollers are just a bit too narrow for Atlas track switches. It also sounds like the track (center rail) may not have been clean either, which will quickly gum-up the pick-up rollers also. All that high resistance and sparking, is pretty hard on the rollers and tension spring.

Just contact Sunset/3rd Rail and get some new pick-up roller assemblies.

I never had that problem with my 3rd rail S2 from years ago. Pitting on rollers is usually caused by a couple of things -- dirty track or residue on the rollers themselves, although as you mentioned, very weak springs would allow the roller to "bounce."

With new Track, I've seen traces of machining oil or preservative on the rails, so we customarily wipe down the track with alcohol before trains run on it. I've also seen similar material on pickup rollers, but not as frequently.

After a while my MTH Tinplate Traditions Lionel/Ives 1616 (1694) set began acting balky. The problem turned out to be a bit of oil on the track (as AGHRMatt posted) plus a small accumulatrion of gunk. I cleaned the track and that solved the problem.

I have a 3rd rail Niagara that runs fine. I suspect those rollers were pitted by an unfortunate combination of circumstances: dirty track that doesn't look dirty [my problem]; high voltage; something on the rollers; or maybe something in them. I vaguely recall someone telling me (or posting here) about rollers made of defective material. I don't know whether that last one would apply to 3rd Rail locomotives. Any margin for error is a lot bigger for parts suppliers for Postwar and Modern eras.

Thank you for the replies, guys. Its possible dirty track had something to do with the pitting but I was able to run two other engines on the same track without a problem yesterday. This was going on at the Flower City Tinplate Tracker modular layout 400 foot mainline at our LOTS display.

When I was wire brushing the oxidation off the rollers I did notice a lot of clearance between the roller and the shaft it rides on. I'll tune them up as Gary suggests but also be looking for some replacements.

Pete