See comment on https://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/159793833 - in the case of https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1334140977/history at least what would have made most sense to preserve the "railway=abandoned" tag on e.g. https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1334140978 , the track that is there now.  The influence of the railway remains on what is there now; railway=abandoned communicates that to current data users.
In addition to that, it also makes sense to contribute "how things used to be" as actual railways to OpenHistoricalMap.