1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties

The development of railways between 1844 and 1862 saw the second great rush to build railway companies in the U.K. The first railway boom had broken in the early 1840s, a victim of inefficiency and more general economic woes. The second boom was the great Railway Mania of 1844 to 1847, which saw an extraordinary expansion in the railway network. Huge numbers of private investors were encouraged to invest, but as with many such ventures, few of these enterprises proved profitable. The bubble truly burst in 1849 when accusations of fraud surfaced at the Eastern Counties Railway, then in bitter dispute with its rivals in East Anglia. The game is set in this cauldron of railway construction. Players will vie to start railway companies, invest money in railway shares, and attempt to run the railways they control for personal gain, trying to keep them afloat in changeable economic times.

1862 — also known in some circles as 18EA — is part of a series of games, all based on an original game by Francis Tresham, called 1829. There are various games in this series which have been published over the years, including 1830, 1853, 1835, 1856, 1870, and 1825. The object of the game is to gain wealth by investing in railway companies, which then build railway networks to gain revenues for their shareholders.

• 1 Game board showing East Anglia
  
• 34 Train cards
  
• 8 Phase cards and 2 Train manifest cards
  
• 160 Company certificates
• 8 sheets of Track Tiles
  
• 4 sheets of tokens for Permits, Stations, and markers
• 2 Player Aid cards
• 2 wooden tokens (elephant and cylinder)
• £15,000 in Paper Money
• Rule booklet
• 1 Sheet Solitaire Rules