With all the rust on the components I would be worried as heck about internal rust. Also it seems to be one problem after another. The only reason I was even considering all this effort is because 3-speeds are almost non-existent around here. Of course I may just be feeling

Welding is something I would have to farm out. I do not mind putting a couple of hundred bucks into it to make a nice townie, but it just keeps looking like there is more and more I did not see wrong with it, and I saw plenty wrong with it to start. And I am finding it harder to locate sources for parts that fit it than when I first looked a couple of years ago. Raleigh seems to have been the last company in the modern world who used Whitworth screw threads.

As you say it is no museum piece, so it is hardly worth putting all that money and effort into it. At this point it would seem better to find a better bicycle to start with. No use pouring good money after bad as they say. I guess I will see what little I can salvage in parts from it and toss the rest. Then again, I may change my mind again after I have had a few days to calm down.