Introduction

We hope that you will find this useful, whether you are already a collector of vintage railway card games or just starting. This may also help those of you who have found the odd pack of cards in your attic that has lost its box and rules and you are curious as to what it is called or how to play it.

Man has been fascinated with the steam engine since ancient times, indeed the ancient Greek inventor Hero of Alexandria made the first steam engine as a toy to amuse people. If only he had known of the manual powered railway the Corinthians had developed a couple of hundred years previously to portage their boats, we might have had steam trains two millennium ago.

The golden age of the steam train was from the 1930's through to the early 60's when there were not many young boys that didn't dream to be an engine driver or guard when they grew up.

Sadly, in the early 1960s many of the small branch lines and even some main lines (a third of the country's railway network) were axed under Dr Beeching, the then Chairman of the British Railway Board.

Luckily, some of these lines were re-opened, not by the British Rail company who had owned them, but by dedicated volunteers who formed charitable trusts and bought the lines and rolling stock. Thereby making sure that the fascination of steam locomotion was kept alive for future generations to experience.

Because of this, instead of slowing down the attraction of trains, it seems to have boosted their appeal and now anything to do with trains and their memorabilia is highly collectible.

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