Lancashire Railways

About this board game

Lancashire Railways is a train game for 3–6 players, with a playing time of approximately 120 minutes, set during the birth of the first commercial railroads in Central England in 1829.

The game takes place in an era of rapid growth and development. Manchester, the engineering and manufacturing hub of its day, needs access to Liverpool, the largest port, so it can move exports of Cloth and Machinery.

Each player starts a railway and seeks to acquire the right-of-way needed for expansion. These acquisitions are decided through auctions, making the pursuit of routes a central part of the game.

• Start and develop a railway in 1829 Central England.
• Compete to acquire right-of-way at auction.
• Finance acquisitions with loans from the Bank.
• Face the possibility of increasingly expensive interest rates.

Players may use loans from the Bank to finance their acquisitions, but borrowing comes with a significant risk: the interest rate may become exorbitant. Managing access to funding is therefore closely tied to the effort to secure railway rights.

Released in 1998, Lancashire Railways is the first game in the Early Railways Series. It is also the progenitor of later titles such as Age of Steam and Railroad Tycoon, placing it in the lineage of influential railway games.