Ed Huntress writes:


FWIW, railroad rails are made of hypereutectoid (excess carbon)
pearlitic steel that work-hardens to around 500 Bhn -- equivalent to
50 - 52 Rockell C -- in service. New, as-rolled, it's typically 400 -
430 Bhn.

And what I recall learning as a child....the reason there are
so many wheels around a rail yard is they are deliberately made
softer than the rails; wheels are easier to replace...

A long-dead machinist friend once found some OLD two-piece rail
sticking out of the ground. He cut off pieces and donated them
to a museum in Pennsylvania. ISTM he said they figured out they
were Civil War era.
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