1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties is an '18xx' game, one of many rail games by different designers inspired by Francis Tresham's 1829. Although it shares many traits in common with the other 18XX games, it has several unique features, such as:

• - random selection of companies
• - three types of trains
• - two different ways to finance companies (either by petitioning parliament or by piecemeal capitalization in a stock round)
• - allowing companies to run multiple trains over the same track
• - the ability to accommodate from 1 to 8 players
• - a special homage to the great “Railway King” George Hudson