Rail Baron


Rail Baron is a railroad board game for 3 to 6 players.
Rail Baron was one of the first board games with a railroad theme, and helped establish a category known as train games.
Rail Baron was initially published in the 1970s under the name Boxcars by the original designers R.S. Erickson and T.F. Erickson, Jr. It was soon acquired, renamed and reissued by the Avalon Hill Game Company where it became one of the company's top sellers.

Gameplay

Rail Baron is played on a map of the United States on which the routes of 28 historic railroads, such as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad have been marked. The map is divided into 7 regions, Northeast, Southeast, North Central, South Central, Plains, Northwest and Southwest. Major US cities which are connected by the railroads act as destinations for travel. Dots on the railroad routes represent small towns along the way, and serve as distance markers for player movement.
The goal of each player is to accumulate money by moving his or her train token to map destinations which are generated at random via a lookup table. Large cities like New York City and Chicago are more likely to be generated as destinations than small cities. Travel from one destination to the next is accomplished by rolling dice to determine distance that can be moved. Players then move their train token along map dots toward their destination.
Upon arrival at a destination, the player collects a cash payoff, and may use the money to upgrade his or her train engine to a faster model, or purchase a railroad. Railroad purchases are key to the game because an owner collects substantial fees from other players who ride his or her railroad during their movement. Meanwhile, the owner can ride his or her own railroads at no cost. Thus, an important decision in the game is whether to buy a variety of railroads in order to gain access to all areas of the map for oneself, or to buy railroads in a given area in order to monopolize it and collect the valuable use fees from opponents.

Winning

To win the game a player must accumulate $200,000 and then make a daring run back to their home city before any opponent can catch them via what is known as a rover play.

Railroads

The 28 railroads depicted in the game correspond to 28 actual real-life railroads that operated in the early 20th century. The table below lists these 28 railroads, their cost within the Rail Baron game, their real-life years of operation and eventual corporate outcome, and their current status as of 2009.
RailroadGame CostReal-Life Years of OperationReal-Life Eventual OutcomeCurrently¹ Part Of...
Southern Pacific$42,0001865–1996Purchased by Rio Grande Industries but retained Southern Pacific name. Later purchased by Union PacificUnion Pacific
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe$40,0001859–1996Merged with Burlington Northern to become BNSFBNSF
Union Pacific$40,0001862–presentCurrently operatingUnion Pacific
Pennsylvania$30,0001846–1968Merged with New York Central to form Penn CentralAmtrak,
Norfolk Southern
Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific$29,0001852–1980LiquidatedN/A
New York Central$28,0001831–1968Merged with Pennsylvania Railroad to form Penn CentralAmtrak,
CSX
Baltimore and Ohio$24,0001830–1986Taken over by the Chesapeake and Ohio to become the Chessie SystemCSX
Missouri Pacific$21,0001849–1982Merged with Union PacificUnion Pacific
Chesapeake and Ohio$20,0001869–1972Renamed to Chessie SystemCSX
Southern Railway$20,0001894–1982Merged with Norfolk and Western to create Norfolk SouthernNorfolk Southern
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy$20,0001849–1970Merged with Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Spokane, Portland and Seattle to form Burlington NorthernBNSF
St. Louis & San Francisco$19,0001876–1980Acquired by Burlington NorthernBNSF
Louisville and Nashville$18,0001850–1982Merged with Seaboard Coast Line to create Seaboard System RailroadCSX
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific$18,0001847–1985Acquired by the Soo Line RailroadCanadian Pacific
Great Northern$17,0001890–1970Merged with Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, Northern Pacific and Spokane, Portland and Seattle to form Burlington NorthernBNSF
Seaboard Air Line$14,0001880–1967Merged with Atlantic Coast Line to form the Seaboard Coast LineCSX
Illinois Central$14,0001851–1999Acquired by the Canadian National RailwayCanadian National
Chicago and North Western$14,0001865–1995Merged into Union PacificUnion Pacific
Northern Pacific$14,0001864–1970Merged with Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, Great Northern and Spokane, Portland and Seattle to form Burlington NorthernBNSF
Atlantic Coast Line$12,0001840–1967Merged with Seaboard Air Line to form the Seaboard Coast LineCSX
Norfolk and Western$12,0001838–1982Merged with Southern Railway to create Norfolk SouthernNorfolk Southern
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio$12,0001938–1972Merged with Illinois Central to form Illinois Central GulfCanadian National
Texas and Pacific$10,0001871–1976Merged with the Missouri PacificUnion Pacific
Western Pacific$8,0001903–1983Acquired by Union PacificUnion Pacific
Denver and Rio Grande Western$6,0001870–1988Renamed to Southern Pacific after purchasing that railroadUnion Pacific
Boston and Maine$4,0001836–1983Purchased by Guilford Transportation Industries Pan Am Systems
New York, New Haven, and Hartford$4,0001872–1969Merged into Penn CentralAmtrak
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac$4,0001836–1991Now part of CSXCSX

¹ = As of September, 2009

Variants

Several variants are gaining in popularity. The "Home Swap" lets players switch the home city and first destination before moving for the first time in case their first destination is an easily monopolizable one, or if they want to try to get a better home city. "Free Superchief" lets players upgrade to a SuperChief engine at no cost if they already have an Express engine; this both speeds the game and lessens the dominance of the Pennsylvania RR.
Fans of the game have created dozens of alternate maps for play. There now exist game maps of Europe, New York City, Colorado, and many other locations, as well as fictional regions. There is also a computer version which both speeds play and supports online multiplayer matches.