The Mayfair Rules to 1870, as well as Bill Dixon's online rules for 1870: The Trans-Mississippi, both contain the same Historical Order Start Variant. The following rules are in addition to the ones they have published for this variant. They also are predicated on the use of the Variant Rules for Small Cities, by Lou Jerkich. Players may choose to apply some or all of these rules without using the Historical Order Start, but they were not designed that way. The following changes and additions are made to the rules to play this variant.

PRIVATE COMPANIES

Mississippi River Bridge Company - Ohio River Variant
So that there is no confusion or misunderstanding, bridging or crossing the Mississippi River and the Ohio River means having track that begins on one side of the river cross it such that a route could be continued off the river on the opposite side from which the track began. Track on a tile may appear to cross the river, but the key concept is not allowing that track to continue out of that hex in such a way that it clearly crosses the river to the other side.

In addition to the Mississippi River restrictions in the regular rules for this private company, the Ohio River also cannot be bridged until the Mississippi River Bridge Company has been sold to a corporation or has been closed. Before then, track built 'east' of the Mississippi River may thus not cross the hexside between F19 and E18.

A special rule applies to hex E20, which contains two small cities, Cairo IL and Paducah KY. Any company north or south of the Ohio River may place a double-city tile on hex E20, regardless of whether the track connects on the opposite side of the river with other previously placed track. (Historically, until bridges were built, passengers and cargo were ferried across to the trains on the other side of the river.) One of the two cities on the tile in E20 will be deemed to be on the south side of the Ohio, and the other will be considered to be on the north side. When a company places the tile on E20, its own track line must connect to the small city in that tile that is on the appropriate side of the Ohio River. To dispel all doubts, the location of Cairo (north) and Paducah (south) of the Ohio River are here designated for each tile, according to the compass position that the tile number faces:

#1 NE: Cairo is west and Paducah is east on the tile.

#1 SW: Cairo is west and Paducah is east on the tile.

#2 NE: Cairo is northwest and Paducah is south on the tile.

#2 NW: Cairo is southwest and Paducah is southeast on the tile.

#55 NE: Cairo is north and Paducah is south on the tile.

#55 SW: Cairo is north and Paducah is south on the tile.

#56 NE: Cairo is north and Paducah is south on the tile.

#56 NW: Cairo is north and Paducah is south on the tile.

#69 E: Cairo is northeast and Paducah is west on the tile.

#69 SW: Cairo is north and Paducah is southeast on the tile.

Note that in some positions (#2 NE, #56 NE, and #69 SW) the track segment including Cairo does not cross the Ohio River anywhere in hex E20.

When a company train runs its route into hex E20, it must dead-end in the small city on that tile that is on its side of the Ohio River, and can go no further until the Mississippi River Bridge Company is closed or has been sold to a corporation. It may count the revenue for that small city as part of its run.

Note: This Bridge Variant is also required for use with the variant rules that follow for the GM&O and the Illinois Central.

The Fifth Private Company
Instead of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway's president's certificate being the fifth private company to be offered for sale to the players, the GM&O president's certificate now takes this role. The GM&O presidency costs $140, and the purchaser immediately sets the par value. Unlike other companies, the GM&O may operate with just 20% of its certificates sold. The GM&O president's certificate may not be purchased by a public company.

Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad
The player who buys this private company is permitted to place track tiles for this company during Operating Rounds at the time that this private company's revenues are paid to its owner. The private company may never place more than one tile per turn.

Junction City, the small city in hex B7 west of Topeka, Kansas, now becomes the original home base of the M-K-T, but a spot also remains reserved for one of its station tokens in Kansas City. The home base token is placed on B7 immediately after laying the first track tile in that hex. A tile and token must be placed here in the first turn the M-K-T private company pays its owner his revenues. Only the M-K-T private player is allowed to place a station token on Junction City and this station is the home base of the Private M-K-T Company. The holder of this private company must attempt to lay track each turn to the small city of Parsons in hex D9, from whence it may then optionally be continued into Oklahoma (E8 or E10) or built north toward Kansas City. However, it may not lay track outside the states of Kansas and Oklahoma, although it may cross into Missouri (only in hexes D11, C10, C12, and B11) solely in order to build track to Kansas City. Nevertheless, since this M-K-T private company doesn't have a treasury, its track may not enter any river hex, with the exception of Kansas City, and only then if there is already a city tile located in B11. In addition, the M-K-T private company's track may not build into any other large city aside from Kansas City. These restrictions no longer apply when the Katy public corporation is floated.
 

SPECIAL RULES PERTAINING TO THE PUBLIC CORPORATIONS

1. Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad (GM&O)
The GM&O may not build track that crosses west of the Mississippi River until it reaches its destination city of St. Louis. Effectively, this means that it must build east of the Mississippi and cross the Ohio River into Illinois in order to reach St. Louis. As compensation for this restriction, the GM&O now takes the place of the Frisco as the fifth Private Company, with the President's certificate costing $140. Moreover, this company may operate with only 20% of its stock sold.

Until the Mississippi River Bridge Company is either closed or sold to a public company, no GM&O train operating south of the Ohio River may pass north of Paducah, Kentucky [E20], even if the track tiles in E20 already appear to link track north and south of the Ohio River. Thus, revenue routes must end at E20 until the Bridge Company is either closed or sold to a public company. (See the Mississippi River Bridge Company - Ohio River Variant rules for more clarification on permissible track placements and revenue collection in E20.) In effect, a true crossing of the Ohio River for income collection is blocked for all companies, just as it is with the Mississippi River, until the Bridge private company has been either sold to a corporation or closed.

2. Illinois Central Railroad (IC)
The IC has two starting Station Markers: one in Chicago, Illinois and the other in Jackson, Mississippi. These are both placed on the map immediately at the start of the IC's first operating round. The destination token is used by the IC as its Chicago base, although it cannot be used as a "destination" until it has actually connected Jackson to Chicago, with the Bridge Company closed or sold to another corporation, and a suitable train available to run the route.

Until these two bases have been connected by an unblocked route of continuous track through Cairo or Paducah [both in hex E20], the IC cannot build track westward from the Mississippi River, nor run a revenue route to any city west of the Mississippi River, although it may run routes to cities located on the east side of the Mississippi River. However, as an exception, it may connect to St. Louis but only if the Mississippi River Bridge Company is closed or has been sold to a public company. Even then, it may not run a route beyond St. Louis on the west side of the Mississippi. Likewise, it may build to Carthage on the east side of the Mississippi in hex A16, but not to Fort Madison on the west side. Nor may it lay track or collect any revenues westward beyond Carthage until the Bridge Company is closed or sold to a public corporation. (Carthage is the southern city on tile #2 and the eastern city on tile #56.)

To compensate for this early advantage in track laying and token placement, the Illinois Central's $40 station token may not be placed until the operating round after the IC has made its connection run.

The IC may build from either or both starting Stations each turn, but may never lay more than two yellow tiles or upgrade more than one tile in an operating round. However, the IC's first tile lay must be out of Chicago, although laying one tile will satisfy this requirement. Its second yellow tile could be laid at Jackson, or may continue the route from Chicago. The IC may initially build track out of Chicago only from the southwest side of that city. It may not build track out of or into the western edge of Chicago until after it makes its Connection Run. Once its two home stations have been connected by an "unblocked" route of continuous track, the Chicago station becomes the "destination station marker" for purposes of making a Connection Run and for doubling the value of the destination city. Note that despite apparent track connections in E20, for the purposes of counting the cities of Chicago and Jackson, Mississippi, as being "connected by an unblocked route," the Mississippi River Bridge Private Company must be either sold to a corporation or closed. If the Bridge Company is still in a player's personal hand, the line is still considered "blocked" at E20, even though "connecting" track has been seemingly built, per the Mississippi River Bridge Company - Ohio River Variant rules.

In addition, until the Mississippi River Bridge Company is either closed or sold to a public company, no train operating in Illinois may pass south of Cairo, Illinois [E20]. Nor may any train south of the Ohio River pass north of Paducah, Kentucky [E20], even if the track tiles already link track north and south of the Ohio River. Thus, revenue routes must end at E20 until the Bridge Company is closed or sold to a public company. (See the Mississippi River Bridge Company - Ohio River Variant rules for more clarification on permissible track placements and revenue collection in E20.) In effect, a true crossing of the Ohio River is blocked for all companies, just as it is with the Mississippi River, until the Bridge private company has been either sold to a corporation or closed.

3. Missouri Pacific Railroad (MP, or MoPac)
One tile #5 is reserved for the exclusive use of the Missouri Pacific Railroad until it has completed its first operating turn.

4. Saint Louis-San Francisco Railway (SLSF, or Frisco)
This is now treated as a normal share company with no special benefits.

5. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF)
The Santa Fe company historically aimed to go west (toward hex D1) from Atchison and Topeka. Later it branched south to Fort Worth by way of Oklahoma City, and then continued on toward Houston, and Galveston. It also built a route to Chicago from Kansas City. However, it did not build a route to Austin or to San Antonio, which would be located about where the Southwest Red Off-Board location is shown on the map. Therefore, Galveston, not the Southwest, becomes the destination point for the AT&SF, and Galveston also becomes a city able to use a brown #170 "P" tile.

If the AT&SF should happen to connect the cities of Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Fort Worth, Houston and Galveston with an uninterrupted track line, then it may count both Galveston and Chicago as destination cities, doubling each of them for all runs between and including those two locations as end points. No token is needed for Chicago, but Galveston does require its destination token.

6. Southern Pacific Railroad (SP, or SoPac)
This company has no special benefits.

7. Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT, or Katy)
(See the special rules for the private M-K-T company.)

After the Katy public corporation has been floated, the owner of the M-K-T private company may no longer lay track tiles. The Katy public corporation may place one of its unused tokens in Kansas City for free, thereby making that its new home base. This token placement, however, is not required. The reserved Katy token spot in Kansas City remains available only until the first permanent train (a type 6-train) has been bought by any player. After that, other companies may place a token on that formerly reserved token spot. When a Katy token has been placed in Kansas city, that token also becomes the new home base of the company for purposes of making a Connection Run, regardless of whether the original home base at Junction City is still in play. If no Katy token exists in Kansas City, then the Junction City base in B7 is used as the home base for calculating a connection run.

Provided that a Katy token exists in Kansas City, the Junction City Base token placed by the owner of the private M-K-T company may be removed during any Operating Round and placed in any large city to which its track connects, following the usual rules for placing stations. Moving this token to another location costs $100. No token can ever be placed back at Junction City once this happens.

8. St. Louis Southwestern Railway (SLSW, or Cotton Belt)
This company has no special benefits.

9. Texas & Pacific Railway (TP, or T&P)
This company has no special benefits.

10. Fort Worth & Denver City (FW, or Burlington Route)
This company has no special benefits.
 

COMMENTARY

Imagine having to wait to cross the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers until all ten companies in the 1870 game were operating! That's what would happen if the 1870 game more accurately followed history. The bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis didn't open until 1874, which is a year later than the Fort Worth & Denver City, the latest of the game's companies, began operating. (See the historical commencement dates on pages 27 and 31 of the Mayfair Rules.) Historically, the first bridge across the Mississippi was completed in 1856 by the Rock Island Railroad at Rock Island-Davenport. The next bridge was built at Clinton, Iowa in 1865. Two more bridges crossing over to Iowa were built in 1868. But the first one that was built within the confines of the game board was the bridge built by James B. Eads to St. Louis in 1874. Thus, playing that Mississippi River Bridge Company early in the game clearly lets players cross the Mississippi rather early compared to what historically was the case.

Playing by the Mayfair 1870 rules, the Ohio River can be crossed at anytime. Yet historically, it wasn't until 1889 that the Illinois Central finally completed its long-awaited bridge across the Ohio at Cairo, IL. Nevertheless, because the small cities are generally avoided in a typical 1870 game, most players controlling the GM&O and IC won't cross the Ohio but instead will route their north-south lines to run between St. Louis and Memphis on the west side of the Mississippi River.

The overall impact of these additional variant rules for a historical order start is that there is a new, strong emphasis placed on building a railroad network east of the Mississippi, thereby emulating what historically occurred before the expansion and growth of railways to the west side of the Mississippi. The lack of bridges across the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, as well as the land grants made to the Mobile & Ohio and to the Illinois Central Railroad, essentially caused these two companies to be chiefly focused on rail traffic east of the Mississippi. Both of them eventually organized mergers with other companies so that they could build solid north-south networks from Illinois to ports on the Gulf of Mexico.

The new rules take into greater account the historical development of the ten companies that are provided in the game

Strategically, the GM&O needs to start building north before the IC does in order for it to not be blocked by competing IC track from reaching the Ohio River. In order not to have the GM&O overwhelmed or blocked by the IC, the GM&O now replaces the Frisco as the company that can start with only 20% of its shares sold. It thus chooses its par value first, and can set it high enough to start before the IC if it wishes. Because of the mandatory IC placement of track emanating from Chicago on its first operating turn, the GM&O, by moving first, will ensure that it can reach the Ohio River before the IC component based in Jackson. However, the Illinois Central out of Chicago should be able to determine which track tile will actually be placed in E20, since it cannot be prevented from linking to Cairo [hex E20]. The GM&O and the IC players will find themselves making many strategic decisions on track laying and building to Memphis and New Orleans arising from the restriction of these variant rules. It should spark more excitement and perhaps even some stock manipulations among the companies east of the Mississippi River.

Given that the Illinois Central is now going to be operating out of Chicago and building from two bases, all the other players may decide that it is best if the IC is unable to run revenue routes across the Ohio River too soon, thus delaying its connection run. This makes it likely that they will not put the Bridge into play very early. Besides, with a fixed order of starting the corporations, the Cotton Belt isn't going to be an early starter at all. That just leaves the Mopac as the company typically likely to use the Bridge, but the odds are against the Bridge owner being the one to get the MoPac presidency.

For the GM&O President, there is also no point in playing the Bridge Company early, since his company can't cross the Mississippi until it has reached its destination in St. Louis by way of a crossing of the Ohio River. Therefore, it will want to cross the Ohio River first, and preferably do so at the time of its own choosing. Building north from Mobile at two hexes per turn, it cannot possibly cross the Ohio River on its own until its fifth operating turn, unless it cooperates in building track with the IC player operating from Jackson, Mississippi. Even then, green tiles would need to be in play to enable joint construction of their united lines and it would save but one turn of track construction at best. (The home base token of the IC in Jackson, Mississippi will block GM&O traffic through that hex until the green tiles are in play.) So if the player running the GM&O has the Bridge Company, he is likely not to sell it to his corporation until he can make a connection across the Ohio River that will be able to connect to St. Louis by the following turn.

The Illinois Central player has two bases in this variant. The one out of Chicago represents the true Illinois Central that historically built a route in Illinois from Cairo north to Galena, Illinois, in the northwest corner of the state, and also to Chicago. A steamboat line operated by the railroad connected Cairo to New Orleans. In 1872 the IC made traffic agreements with two lines in the south: the New Orleans, Jackson, & Great Northern RR and the Mississippi Central. By 1874 the IC had taken control of both of them and merged them into the New Orleans, St. Louis & Chicago RR, which by 1877 became a subsidiary of the IC. The IC base in Jackson, Mississippi, represents this southern component of the IC, which already was independently operating in the 1850s in Mississippi. With two starting bases, the IC is now not only more likely to complete its historical route from New Orleans to Chicago that was built east of the Mississippi, but it will do this earlier in the game than is often the case, thanks to being the second starting corporation.

As with the GM&O President, the player operating the IC gains no benefit from the bridging of the rivers until he is ready to connect his Chicago and Jackson bases with continuous connected track. That will take a minimum of five operating turns, unless there is some cooperation with the GM&O player in building the line south of the Ohio River. Even so, four operating turns is the fastest this crossing can be accomplished. So, even if the player running the IC owns the Bridge Company, it is not likely to be played until the IC is ready to link his two track portions.

The other players are not likely to want to see either the GM&O or the IC reach their destinations before everyone else's companies and they also will not want to see them quickly cross west of the Mississippi to further enhance their revenue opportunities. So, even if the player who is president of the Missouri Pacific owns the Bridge Company, he or she, too, may prefer to build toward the MoPac's destination rather than give the IC or the GM&O greater momentum early in the game. (Historically, the Missouri Pacific's charter destination was the Kansas border at Kansas City, which it reached in 1867, fifteen years after running its first train west out of St. Louis in 1852.)

In order for the Missouri Pacific Railroad to be able to do anything west of the river if the Mississippi hasn't yet been bridged, it needs tile #5 to be available. Thus, one tile #5 is reserved for the exclusive use of the MoPac until it has completed its first operating turn. The Missouri Pacific will be the third corporation formed in the game, so it will have to blaze a trail along the Missouri River or the west side of the Mississippi River, unless it prefers to forge straight through the mountains to Springfield, Missouri.

Probably, most games will see the GM&O, IC, and MoPac formed during the first stock round, especially since only the President's share need be bought to float the GM&O. Very likely the Frisco, the fourth company to start chronologically, will also be formed. Historically, the portion of the Frisco track from Springfield westward began as the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. The 1870 game's Southeast destination for the Frisco is actually more a balancing mechanism, since the real Frisco was more concerned with connections westward to Wichita, Oklahoma City, and beyond to Texas, plus a connection back to St. Louis. It wasn't until 1901 that it acquired lines connecting to Birmingham, Alabama, and not until 1925 that it hooked down to Pensacola.

The Frisco has no special benefits, and will not have much help with its track construction, unless it teams up with the Missouri Pacific. (Historically, the Frisco did have a connection northeast to St. Louis by way of St. Clair in hex D17.) If the player running the Frisco owns the bridge Company, he or she may wish to use it to cross the Mississippi at Memphis as soon as green tiles are available, to prevent the GM&O or the IC from blocking that hex with one of their tokens. Although the other city spot must be reserved for the Cotton Belt's home base, since that corporation starts 8^th in the Historical Start sequence, the Frisco could reach its Southeast destination well before the Cotton Belt forms, especially if it can use some of the track previously placed by the IC or GM&O. Nevertheless, it would be better to be the first to place a token in Memphis after it has a green tile and not risk being blocked by the corporations east of the Mississippi.

The At&SF's new destination of Galveston shouldn't be a problem since the city can now use a "P" tile. This will also put this port on the map, rather than leaving it to be one of the lesser large cities in the game, if it even appears. The bonus the AT&SF gets for building a track connection from Galveston to Chicago makes this company a very valuable one to own. (It's also fitting, given that historically this is probably the strongest of the companies in the game.) If there is any company that players will want to be sure to be invested in, this is it. The company plays fifth, so there could be some maneuvering in the stock market in order to get the chance to be its President.

Of the last five companies to start, only the Katy has special benefits. The historical starting point of Junction City to the west of Topeka has been included by allowing the owner of the Katy private to begin building track for the company. To prevent the Katy from getting too much of a head start, this track-laying is limited to one tile per turn and must run from Junction City to Parsons (D9) before it can go anywhere else. (In real life, the M-K-T was one of the companies competing to be the first to allowed to run track through Oklahoma to the Texas border. It succeeded by being first to reach the Oklahoma border south of Parsons.) These rules limit the owner of the M-K-T private company to building only in Kansas and Oklahoma, except for a few hexes leading back from Parsons to Kansas City. The player must attempt to build at least the three track tiles to Parsons; afterwards it is up to the M-K-T's owner to decide whether to build more track within the allotted bounds. For play balance as well as historical reasons, these rules forbid this M-K-T track from going to any large cities other than Kansas City until the public Katy corporation has been floated. When the AT&SF is formed, it may find some track blocking it's way to Wichita and Oklahoma City, and may thus have to build track to Kansas City and other northern locales until the green tiles appear. Or, it may be that the M-K-T owner will find himself blocked from Parsons if the AT&SF first places a second yellow track southwest out of Topeka.

The net effect of these new variant rules should be to add a bit more excitement to the operations of the companies when they are started in historical sequence. The GM&O and IC will be centered east of the Mississippi River as was historically the case. The Katy will start in its proper location, and the Mopac is likely to first get started toward its destination before trying to link to Chicago. The AT&SF will be a very important company and will have great incentive to try to both reach Galveston and Chicago. Tokens will likely be used by players to both block routes so that early companies don't have it too easy, but will also be used to gain key route points. The use of the variant rules for small cities, combined with the necessity of using them in some cases, will also open up all the board to play.