Rail Baron is a railroad board game for 3 to 6 players.

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 Avalon Hill.

Gameplay Rail Baron is played on a map of the United States on which the routes of 28 historic railroads, such as the Baltimore & Ohio and the Southern Pacific have been marked. The map is divided into seven 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 their train token to map destinations which are generated at random via a lookup table. Large cities like New York 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 their 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 their railroad during their movement. Meanwhile, the owner can ride their 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 (their first city in the game) 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$42,0001865–1996 Purchased by Rio Grande Industries but retained Southern Pacific name, later purchased by Union Pacific Union Pacific Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe$40,0001859–1996 Merged with Burlington Northern to become BNSF BNSF Union Pacific$40,0001862–present Currently operating Union Pacific Pennsylvania Railroad$30,0001846–1968 Merged with New York Central to form Penn Central Amtrak,Norfolk Southern Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific$29,0001852–1980 Liquidated N/A New York Central$28,0001831–1968 Merged with Pennsylvania Railroad to form Penn Central Amtrak,CSX Baltimore & Ohio$24,0001830–1986 Taken over by the Chesapeake & Ohio to become the Chessie System CSX Missouri Pacific$21,0001849–1982 Merged with Union Pacific Union Pacific Chesapeake & Ohio$20,0001869–1972 Renamed to Chessie System CSX Southern Railway$20,0001894–1982 Merged with Norfolk & Western to create Norfolk Southern Norfolk Southern Chicago, Burlington & Quincy$20,0001849–1970 Merged with Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Spokane, Portland & Seattle to form Burlington Northern BNSF St. Louis & San Francisco$19,0001876–1980 Acquired by Burlington Northern BNSF Louisville & Nashville$18,0001850–1982 Merged with Seaboard Coast Line to create Seaboard System Railroad CSX Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul & Pacific$18,0001847–1985 Acquired by the Soo Line Railroad Canadian Pacific Great Northern$17,0001890–1970 Merged with Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Northern Pacific and Spokane, Portland & Seattle to form Burlington Northern BNSF Seaboard Air Line$14,0001880–1967 Merged with Atlantic Coast Line to form the Seaboard Coast Line CSX Illinois Central$14,0001851–1999 Acquired by Canadian National Canadian National Chicago & North Western$14,0001865–1995 Merged into Union Pacific Union Pacific Northern Pacific$14,0001864–1970 Merged with Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Great Northern and Spokane, Portland & Seattle to form Burlington Northern BNSF Atlantic Coast Line$12,0001840–1967 Merged with Seaboard Air Line to form the Seaboard Coast Line CSX Norfolk & Western$12,0001838–1982 Merged with Southern Railway to create Norfolk Southern Norfolk Southern Gulf, Mobile & Ohio$12,0001938–1972 Merged with Illinois Central to form Illinois Central Gulf Canadian National Texas & Pacific$10,0001871–1976 Merged with the Missouri Pacific Union Pacific Western Pacific$8,0001903–1983 Acquired by Union Pacific Union Pacific Denver & Rio Grande Western$6,0001870–1988 Renamed to Southern Pacific after purchasing that railroad Union Pacific Boston & Maine$4,0001836–1983 Purchased by Pan Am Systems Pan Am Systems New York, New Haven & Hartford$4,0001872–1969 Merged into Penn Central Amtrak Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac$4,0001836–1991 Now part of CSX CSX

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.

Reviews Casus Belli #33 (June 1986) 1982 Games 100 in Games #13 The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games

References

External links

An Illustrated History of Rail Baron at Rail Game Fans Command line utilities for game play