Railway Towns

In 1825, several major companies have their home bases in low-value cities. The LNWR begins in Wolverton and Crewe, while the GWR begins in Swindon. In Unit 2, the GCR begins in Barnsley and the GNR begins in Doncaster. All of these cities have low, fixed values and fixed track layouts.

I was wondering whether this could be extended as a general principle. Perhaps every company could start in a small town. One of these “railway towns” could use the ordinary small town tiles but with the addition of a company marker, which would stop other companies from running routes through that hex. This would make the company “own” that piece of line. As an extension, we could let companies start in any dot town; the presence of the marker indicating that it has become a “railway town”. This would give more variation to the start of the game, rather than requiring companies to start in specific hexes.

Finding start hexes for some companies could be a challenge. In the south, the LBSC might have to start at Redhill, the SECR at Ashford, the LSWR at Woking and the GER at Colchester. In Scotland, the GSWR could start at Ayr, but I’m stretching to find start towns for the Caledonian and the NBR. But it might be doable.

I’ve been moving away from this idea recently. It would be yet another change from standard 18xx and I’m not convinced that it gives the best results for the LNWR, let alone the other companies. So for now, this is an idea that I’ll put on the back burner.