not just
smooth ends , but a pretty good freehand hole as well that makes it easy to carry around - plasma?
Denny got some badly work hardend rail that got subjected to too many hotboxes passin by
actually rail steel is different - hasta be to stand up for any length of time - the steel has a denser grain structure than yer average stuff, and it is surface hardened ... "austenitization",
like for good blade steel nowadays it's done with lasers: "
Laser glazing treatment is applied on the gage face of the rails to help minimize flange and rail wear, reduce fuel consumption, and decrease the likelihood of derailments caused by flange climb and low-rail rollover." here .... but it doesn't affect the entire block of steel, only the surface to some selected depth
Bill
