What make of rail?

Er, nickel silver has no Ag in it.

Sorry, can't help you with the brand of track.

Of course! force of habit.

Wolf,

Ag is the chemical symbol for silver. OP's track is Nickel Silver based on the chemical make-up given by them.

It's not Hornby track, as that has chairs on every sleeper. Don't have any other brand, so cannot help further.

But nickel silver does not normally actually contain any silver; it is an alloy of nickel, copper, and zinc.

Nickel silver is actually a copper/nickel alloy. Called silver because it is used for "silver" coins.

Nickel silver sounds similar to what was known as cupro-nickel, used as jacketing for British service 0.303 ammunition, and maybe for later calibres. Regards, Bill.

You may be right. Nickel silver is technically a bronze (copper + tin) with nickel added, presumably to increase ductility. Bronzes tend to be brittle. Alloying metals is still somewhat of a black art. The properties of a metal aren't good guides to the properties of the alloy.

HTH

The silver colour of this alloy is why it is called 'nickel silver' in the same way that what Americans call 'drill rod' we call silver steel again because of its colour.

Alan