I found some Walthers 40~ flatcars on Amazon for about $20, and I’m wondering
Could i modify these into a welded rail train?
gotta wonder how flexible the HO rail is and if cars would stay on the track
I think I could probably weigh them down
Years ago someone offered plastic HO rail for the very purpose of modeling this. One of my friends has a rail train. I never got into the particulars of it. But I can ask.
Sheldon
An N-scale example was published in the February 2002 issue of Railmodel Journal magazine.
A HOm model was released by BEMO many years ago. The rails were apparently made of rubber.
It’s not impossible, but it would require a lot of technology to make it a reality.
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I found some Walthers 40~ flatcars on Amazon for about $20, and I’m wondering
Could i modify these into a welded rail train?
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Probably easier to model an empty welded rail train.
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Definitely, I’d be cramming as much lead under the body as I could.
Looks like it can be done!
Cheers, the Bear. 
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Yeah, but I’ll bet that stuff is not nickel silver.
More likely this styrene stuff:
And if you view the video on YouTube and read far enough down in the comments someone asks where all the rail came from. The answer was flexible plastic.
Looks like you can theoretically buy a complete train for between $1500 and $2400 depending on length of train and type of model used.
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I have thought about doing a welded rail train a few times. I’ve seen various companies like CMRProducts offer kits to build the welded rail train cars. Just not sure of what you would do for the sections of rail. I always wondered if you could perhaps use lengths of flex track rails connected together somehow.
Guess you didn’t read the previous post to yours.
Enough flex track rail to approximate a rail-train load will derail you on curves, and the sharp ‘unprototypical’ curves bend the rail sharply enough that visible ends need to be covered.
I’d use styrene or ABS stock, shaped if you want more ‘scale’ like rail appearance, if you don’t want to pay for scale plastic rail. I’d use something like piano wire for the upright rack separators, to minimize any binding on curves; this is similar to how the prototype manages things.
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They do make flexible resin… hmmm
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Goodness, gracious. Anyone reading the notes associated with that video would find that the plastic product, already “invented”, actually requires quite generous curve radius to function reasonably well. And I believe that those curves are not found on the majority of home layouts.
Yet we continue to search for or invent a product made from unobtainium.