Dave wrote:

I occasionally happen across bits of railroad track and mounting
plates. Is any of this stuff machinable?
http://home.att.net/~galt_57/railroad.jpg


Yes, I've had good luck machining railroad steel, everything I've tried.
Welds OK too. I have not tried track but lots of guys mill the top off
of a bit of track to get something to pound on.

By the way, like many other things the company that sells things to the
railroads has an online catalog. Handy to look up track data:
http://www.akrailroad.com/table_contents.asp

GWE