£38.99

Here's what's struck me so far:

1. You don't necessarily win by playing big routes...it can be very important to bag good merchandise tokens with your passengers. This is a big change from the strategy that wins USA and, to a lesser degree, Europe. 2. Short routes may be better than long ones as they are more likely to get you the 10 card for the most routes. A mixture of both is best. 3. If you go out first you don't automatically come first or second. Far from it - I won easily with by far the most trains left (13). 4. The glut of short, grey routes in the SW makes for an interesting dynamic, and it's often necessay (as in USA) to fill some of these quickly esp in a 2/3 player game. 5. Drawing extra destination cards is a much better idea here than in the other games - a. because you can pick short or long ones only if you know you need that type b. because of the 10 points for the most completed. However, there's so much going on on the board that it's hard (as in the other games) to find a turn to do this.

I thought that Alan Moon (the designer) has tried hard, and succeeded, to make shorter routes profitable and has also increased the liklihood of players picking up locos - due to the 4+ loco rule. These are big positives about the game.

I haven't played the game enough yet to be certain, but I think this may turn out to be the best one so far - though it is not as elegant as USA, which has a certain beauty in its simplicity.