1829 - Mainline

There are no dice or chance cards in this game. All players start with the same amount of money which they use to invest in railway shares. These depict real railways that ran in Britain during the 19th century.

The companies build railway lines by laying tiles on the map board. They also buy trains and then run them to connect stations of different values. The money thus earned may be paid out to the shareholders as a dividend or it may be retained to buy new trains, build bridges, cross mountains or establish new bases. There must be one such base on each company route. These bases are shown by colored marker tokens that clearly define each company's field of operation. Stations that are not so identified may be used by any company.

The trains are bought in order of size.

The tiles on the board may be updated in the order yellow, green, brown and finally grey.

When the bank funds are exhausted the game finishes. Players add the current value of their shares to their holdings in cash and this determines the finishing order.