There is also an unpublished 3 player version (1 additional company, an ever so slightly larger map, and one or two tile mods).

Unpublished as in is to be published soon, or unpublished as in made out of cereal packet and kept in a shoe box under the stairs?

As in he designed it and it plays fine but has never been published. You'd have to ask Tony if he wants to release it for general consumption, is looking for a publisher, or is just content to have designed it.

Here's a pic of the 3-player version:

Currently in playtest. Components submitted to the 18xx Yahoo group on March 26, 2009.

You were right first time.This is a quicker version of 1837 and the reviews are well deserved.

Played this one a couple weekends ago and really enjoyed it. The rave reviews are well deserved. It's on my "to buy" list.

Currently comes in three units which you can mix and match for different numbers of players and situations. There are also many add-on kits with additional money, tiles, companies to add additional variation.

Unit three has just surfaced (and a long time in coming).

Unit 1 is South/SE England,
Unit 2 Midlands/North England,
Unit 3 North England and Scotland.

There are kits for Wales, South Western England, Norfolk and Northern Scotland.

Worth noting that Unit 3 (Scotland) is one of those rare 18XX games that is designed for two players.

One of my favourite 18xx games
Considered a little sedate by some, this is an excellent game to use as an introduction for new players
The final run calculations are usually greatly simplified thanx to the 'main' final train being a 3Doubled
The most important decisions in the game are when to 'grow up' and become a big strong company (and halve your dividends) and whether or not folding one of your companies into the SNCF is worth it
Folding in two of your companies is usually bad...

It should be noted that there is a similar Northern Board expansion set to be used with the full Southern Board game.

This is a seperate, unrelated game from the other 1829 games and kits.

Not that separate - just a considerably different rule-set, especially when it comes to share acquisition (kind of taking the 1851 random deal of privates to a whole new level). I do agree that this game design steps away from one of the tenants of 18xx, that being the fully disclosed non-random game state.

While this isn't the first 18xx game, it's typically credited as the source that inspired many of the other 18xx games.

If one were to accept an evolutionary tree view of 18xx, this is the root of the stock manipulation side of the tree while 1829/1825 falls on the route building side of the tree.

Actually that is false too. In 1829, green double city tiles cannot be upgraded to brown. Only Green single city tiles can be upgraded. Not to mention survey parties.

Both of these elements were purged from 1830 and most of the 18XX canon.

Will probably never be really published. The game supposedly still had some issues when the designer passed away.

Still unpublished, designed by the race-for-the-galaxy guy...

See 1824 above.

Re-made into 18Rhl

By far the most complex 18xx game
The ability to generate cash by starting a new child company and merging it with its parent is one that takes a few games to appreciate
The train rush is the most ferocious of any so far, and you either ride the avalanche or get buried beneath it
Often overlooked is the ability to purchase tokens from another company to improve routes for companies in which you hold greater shareholdings

It is now possible to buy a new edition (1841v2 !) of this mythic 18xx game: http://www.deepthoughtgames.com/ , click on the GAMES button of the header.

FredhoT

Currently my favourite, along with 1856. Quite complex, many new ideas, few types of companies. Game (kit) is quite cheap, can be easily obtained on author's site.

He said the tiles are uncut, unlamenated 300gsm stock. I interpret this to mean it is just a print on cardstock (110lb in the US) which isn't really ready to use. I always mount the cardstock onto paper pad backing cardboard while others laminate (ala DeepThought). Am I interpreting this correctly and did you use the tiles as is once you cut them out or did you mount or laminate them?

I would do neither. Just buy the game as-is, forget the tile sheets, order replacement tiles from DTG.

I laminated mine, but some were left unlaminated (It wasn't worth it, there's a sheet with 6 tiles in it) and my opinion is that it's definitely ready to play the way it is. Laminated is better, of course, but the hexes are thick enough for handling.

The worst part is that the sticker sheet for the station markers is not pre-cut. Get yourself a round cutter or end up with your station markers looking like crap, like mine do (doesn't interfere with gameplay, though). The markers are the round plastic pips, like the ones in 1824 (or like really-small plastic coins Martin Wallace used to put in this game), which is okay to move around from the charter to the board, but are very easy to spill over the table and have a hard time finding it.

If you get this, clearclaw, you'll still have to cut 6 hexes: the clear-tunnel ones (unless DTG offers them, which then I'll definitely be surprised... though 1854 might use similar, I'm not sure).

Exactly. It took ages the assemble the whole game, including laminating it. Now it's a beauty

Created by the guy who made Race for the Galaxy. Seems like a shorter 18xx, every track build costs $ and the bank scales to the number of players.