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by Chris Lawson version 1.4

• Veto Rounds
• Isolated Railway Lines
• Supplementary Shares
• Mergers
• Stations
• Towns and Cities

To add some background:
Originally there was an automatic veto round after each movement of a locomotive. However, the polling of each player cost a lot of time even in the many situations when it was quite obvious that no-one was interested in bidding. Therefore, the procedure was changed to the current ruling. Play continues without the formal polling process unless any one player indicates that he would like to consider a veto, in which case the polling takes place. Indicating one's interest to consider a veto, i.e. calling a veto round, does not give the player any obligation to bid.

During a veto round, the active player may only defend his original position of the locomotive. He cannot change his mind to place the locomotive onto a space different to his original choice. (This is not perfectly clear from the current rules and contradicts the example shown in the rules). However, he may still equal or top up the current bid, for example to defend his passenger token after originally moving the locomotive onto another player's station.

Note that 'zero shares' is not a bid; the minimum bid is 'one share'.

The active player could call a veto round but there is no real reason to do so.

Q)

Can supplementary shares be used as veto bid payment? If so, are they returned to the supplementary share stack or the stack of the railway they're being used for? This could be important if you're trying to control the number of shares available for purchase in a line.

A)

When a player returns shares due to a veto bid, 'real' shares (not supplementary shares) should be returned. They are returned back to the share pile and so become available (as long as the line has not been isolated). If for some reason a player does not have enough real shares to return (because he has only supplementary shares left in this company), then he should simply swap some supplementary shares for real shares with another player first. See also Supplementary Shares

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Q)

When a veto is called, does the active player receive his share in the railway line before or after the veto gets resolved.

A)

Before the veto. This is a common question even though there is clear reference in the rules and in the veto round example. When a railway line is extended, you follow the sequence in the rules.

• Move the locomotive.
• Pick up the share.
• Call and resolve the veto round.
• Place the track tile.

So, the active player has the share which can be used during the veto round.

For a line to become isolated only two conditions need be meet.

• It cannot link with any new railways towns or cities.
• It cannot merge with another line.

Note: I find that it is easier not to remove the shares from the board when a line becomes isolated but to turn the stack face down (to indicate the line is isolated). This should remind players that they cannot take shares for moving the locomotive if the line is isolated. Once the line is merged I then put the locomotive on top of the stack. But (supplementary) shares are still 'available' for mergers, even with isolated railway lines.

Q)

If a line is merged with an isolated line, do the shareholders get to swap shares? The shares of the isolated line have been "removed from the board and discarded", but also "if there are not enough shares of the surviving railway line available, allocate and distribute supplementary shares instead". Does having been discarded as isolated count as "not enough available"?

A)

You are correct that the shares of the isolated line have been discard and so are no longer available BUT the supplementary shares are always available for mergers.
So in this case, the shareholders receive the appropriate number of (supplementary) shares in the isolated railway.

Q)

If the only move a locomotive could make is to a spot adjacent to two other lines (which is explicitly forbidden), is the line considered isolated? If so, what happens if those two lines later merge - does it become un-isolated? This is a rather unlikely situation, admittedly. But in the case of towns two hexes apart, such as Leeds and Manchester, they could box a line in such that this arose.

A)

No, the line is NOT considered to be isolated. It does mean that the railway line cannot be extended while this situation exists.

Q)

If there are only a few tiles left, is a railway considered isolated if it requires more tiles than are available to be able to link to further towns or be merged.

A)

No, the line is NOT considered to be isolated.

For all purposes, supplementary shares behave like real shares. There should be no difference between the two types, but when returning shares of an active railway a player should return real shares, this is just to make the identity of the returned share clear (i.e. that it belongs to a specific railway) and to highlight the fact that it is now available if the locomotive for that line is moved.

Q)

Are the number of supplementary shares fixed at 16.

A)

No, the game comes with 16 but this is not meant to be a limit to game play.

When scoring for a merger, only the cities and towns connected to the dissolved railway line count towards the score (see example in the rules).

Q)

If I move a locomotive adjacent to a starting town (of a different railway line), does it cause a merger.

A)

No. The starting town is not part of a railway line, it just contributes to the value of the line. To cause a merger the locomotive needs to move adjacent to either the track or locomotive of another existing railway line (see next question also).

Q)

If I move a locomotive adjacent to a starting town (of a different railway line) that has not yet started, does it cause a merger.

A)

No. This may seem to be a similar situation to the one above but the difference is that one of the lines is not yet in existence. While it might seem that a merger should take place (because the two locomotives are adjacent), it does not. Locomotives are placed on the board at the start of the game just to remind players where the starting towns are. For mergers to take place the railway line needs to come into existence first and so requires that the locomotive is moved from its starting town.

Q)

If there is only one tile left and I move the locomotive so it is now adjacent to another line (i.e. the two line would merge), does the merger still take place since a 61st tile would be required and the game is supposed to end once the tiles run out.

A)

The merger does still take place as if there was an imaginary 61st tile. The game cannot end in the middle of an action, so the merger would take place as normal (along with the scoring for cities, railway towns, mergers). After this the 'game end' scoring round would take place.

Stations

The intention was that you could only move stations that were in the open, not ones that were linked into a railway line. So, if a station is on a piece of track then it no longer can be moved, if it is in the open then it can be moved.

Q)

Are the number of station fixed at 7.

A)

Yes, each player starts the game with 7 stations and the number is a limit.

There are three different 'types' of Towns and Cities.
Railway Towns: Ashford, Aylesbury, Derby, Leeds, Lincoln, Oxford, Peterborough, Rugby and Swindon
Starting Towns: Bristol, Crewe, Dover, Liverpool, Norwich, Southampton and York
Cities: Birmingham, Brighton, Cambridge, Gloucester, Guildford, Hertford, London, Manchester, Northampton, Nottingham, Reading, Sheffield
The term 'town' refers to either a Railway Town or a Starting Town.

Each time a railway line connects to a new city, it triggers a scoring event.
Each time a railway line connects to a new railway town, it triggers a scoring event.
Connecting to a starting town does not trigger either of the above two events nor does it in itself trigger a merger to take place.

A town or city can only contribute to a value of a railway line once no matter how many times the line is linked to it.

Q)

Does a railway town only trigger a scoring event for the first railway line connected, or is it every time a new railway line is connected.

A)

Every time a railway town is connected to a new railway line a scoring event is triggered.

Q)

Once a locomotive leaves its starting town, does the town become a railway town.

A)

No. Towns and cities do not change 'type' for any reason.