For tagging the status of rail infrastructure there are in use: I usually think it's good to look at existing practice by others.
On USGS maps, and in US legal usage: "out of service": rails still exist, but no trains. shown as regular rail on USGS maps. OSM has no aparent term for this. "abandoned": this is a legal distinction, where ICC has approved abandonment. shown as dashed rails. tracks may or may not be present, but typically some track remnants. OSM says "disused" "old railroad grade". Definitely legally abandoned, definitely no rails. often just traces of embankment. shown as dashed line, no hashes, but there are definite signs on the ground that there used to be a railway (obvious to any train fan). OSM says "abandoned" beyond that, "this road used to be a railroad" doesn't show up on normal renderings. I'd be all for railway=historic to record previous route, and expect it not to be rendered on maps for normal people. ancient isn't good, because it's not that it's old, but that it's no longer. There are rails near me from 1844 over which dozens of trains run daily, and some from 1876 or so that are very hard to find. (The Fitchburg, and the Marlboro Branch, for the NE train nerds.)
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