Definately not steel here...
I used to go to a company regularly called Narsco. They are based out of Midlothian, TX and manufacture steel ties for railroads (oddly enough) outside the US. There biggest "draw" is turnouts. They pre-bend the rail and pre-drill the ties. What you are left with is a switch kit that is almost impossible to install wrong. Shortly after I started going there, a youngish employee got a rather large bonus after he redesigned the switch bluprints and made it possible to make these kits at a faster and cheaper rate. I didnt get the details, but it seemed to be quite benificial to the company.
Casey