This was an email back from Clay regarding either to varnish or stain the timber:

Neither. The original finish used on side rails was lacquer.
If you want to do a nice woodrail finish, i recommend this.

1. sand rails. do not go nuts and try and make them look
perfect. you're missing the point if you do. go 100, 150, 220,400.

2. stain rails. the original finish was nitrocellulose
lacquer. it yellows something fierce, which anyone in
the finish biz would think as "bad". hence the change to
acyrlic lacquer in the 1960s. but you need to get that "look".

I use ainline alcohol dyes. Yellow with a touch of red and brown.
apply with a rag to the rails. Dries in minutes.

3. Spray with Krylon Crystal Clear or Triple Thick. Both are
basically acrylic lacquer. Don't put too much on! If using
TT, it needs only 1 or 2 coats compared to 3 coats with CC.

4. optional: let dry, then lightly sand with 1000 grit.
Take a rag and some Novus2 and polish.

Hope this helps.

As with the metal lockdown and side rails  The ops did this around 1960/61 once all the woodrail games were now being made as steel rail games.....bastards! Anyways PBR has single player rails available - they are US$32 each (from memory) but they don't make the multiplayer rails that were wider.

Also Daniel - did you know that the rails had cigarette holders on the rails? PBR sells reproduction of these also:

Gottlieb Reproduction Cigarette Holders #A3889+ US$6.27ea