John- that is also my guess. In the decades after the war, steel was much rarer and more expensive in many countries than in America. Also machines to deform this steel. However, the upper pockets corners cannot be handcrafted in the large quantities that the factory requires. As an alternative, only a strip of sheet metal was mounted on the board where the player could put his cigarette down. In poorer countries, therefore, very little steel was used on pool tables and other machines such as jukeboxes. It was then often improvised with other materials.
When you rebuild the rails you have to pay close attention to the angle. If the edge of the cushion is too low, the ball jumps and if it is too high, the ball is braked.
What is that number?