[brando]

Only unused track carries a patina of rust on the upper surface. Rails in regular use are shiny. The sides of the track may be rusty but not the top. Regular use means one or two trains daily, that's all that's required to keep them polished.

It's a well-attested fact that the Luftwaffe bombers used the main rail routes as a navigation aids, at night as well as in the day. The eight polished rails of the four-track routes reaching from the South coast up to London were a fantastic guide on a moon-lit night, as was the river Thames on its curving path through London.

I have raised this point several times over the last few years and I hope some consideration may have been given to these permanent and obvious navigational aids