Historical Background

In 1892 the Prussian government released an act about Light Railways and Private Feeder Lines. The new act created a wave of new railway construction and the Prussian railway net was extended by 300 Light Railways of more than 10,000 km until 1914. 1893 Cologne reflects the Light Railways in the area around Cologne between Düsseldorf and Bonn. Some of the Light Railways merged and became large Corporations while other survived nationalization and economic crisis on their own and are still active today. One of the first concessionary Light Railways had been the Köln-Bonner Eisenbahn in 1893, from which the name of game has been derived.

Short Game Description

A Starting Package containing 3 Private and 5 Minor companies will be sold, before the shares of 3 Corporations may be bought. The shares of the other 2 Corporations are either reserved as exchange certificates for the Minor Companies or may be bought in later phases. During the course of the game these two Corporations will be founded by merging the Minor Companies.

Good timing of train purchases is very important in 1893 Cologne. All trains may be trade-in and the owners of Minor Companies may help their companies with private cash when acquiring a train.