Enjoy the steam beer but I'm looking at the excellent jointed rail track. Back then jointed rail could be well maintained and low joints and battered rail ends avoided. Ribbon rail is mostly a cost saving improvement since it requires less attention by sectionmen and welders/grinders and avoids the cost of joint bars and bolts. Notice that joints are greased to allow expansion and contraction of the rails as temperature changes. Welded rail, although cheaper to install and maintain does have the pitfall of increased chance of sunkinks which don't drop the signals. Jointed rail will have a greater incidence of broken rails but broken rails drop the signals to red (usually) and often do not derail trains.