Age of Steam, Steam, Railways of the World: One Game, Three Lineages

September 7, 2026

The original is the 2002 Age of Steam, published by Warfrog under license from Winsome. Rust Belt was the first board, and it won an International Gamers Award the next year.

Railroad Tycoon (2005) simplified the same skeleton and became Railways of the World in 2009. Steam (2009) was announced as a "3rd edition" and came out under a new title.

What outlived all three boxes is the maps: 175 expansion entries on BGG, with new ones every single year from 2006 to 2026.

Put the three boxes side by side in a shop and they blur together. Open the rulebooks and they blur more. Issue shares to borrow money, bid for turn order, lay track, deliver cubes, climb the income track. All three do it. There is a reason one game was born three times.

2002: it starts in the Rust Belt

Age of Steam was published in 2002 by Warfrog Games in the UK. The back of the box carried one line: "licensed from Winsome". Winsome Games is a small train-game publisher in Pittsburgh run by John Bohrer. Designer credits differed by printing; today BGG lists both John Bohrer and Martin Wallace.

The first board was Rust Belt: the industrial belt south of the Great Lakes, Chicago to Pittsburgh. Three to six players, two to three hours. It won the 2003 International Gamers Award for multi-player strategy, and as of September 2026 it sits at BGG rank 138 overall and 92 in strategy, rated 7.88 by 12,855 people, weight 3.86. Unusually high for a game past twenty.

Rust Belt turn 1 issue shares screen — Rust Belt on this site. The first board from the 2002 edition is still the default map of the game.

First branch: Railroad Tycoon, then Railways of the World

In 2005 Eagle Games released Railroad Tycoon, designed by Glenn Drover with Martin Wallace. BGG describes it as Age of Steam with "simplified and streamlined mechanics and upgraded components". A huge eastern North America map, plastic trains, a gentler curve. It borrowed the name of the Railroad Tycoon video game; when that license ended, it became Railways of the World in 2009. BGG rank 244, rated 7.66, weight 3.02. The lightest of the three.

Second branch: Steam

In 2009 Mayfair Games released Steam, credited to Martin Wallace alone. It had been announced as "Age of Steam 3rd Edition". A double-sided board (US Northeast, Rhine-Ruhr) with two rule sets, Basic and Standard, so newcomers could start light and graduate. Standard differs mainly in how you raise money at the start of a turn, the turn-order bid, and locomotive upkeep. BGG rank 350, rated 7.54.

A short note on the name and the rights

Steam came out under a new title rather than as a "3rd edition" because the rights to the name Age of Steam were being settled at the time. Today the copyright and trademark are registered to John Bohrer, and Eagle-Gryphon Games publishes the Deluxe Edition under license. Designer credits vary by printing (Wallace on the first edition, both on BGG, Bohrer on the Deluxe page); this site follows the official notice. That is as far as this article goes.

The third lineage is not a box. It is the maps.

The 2019 Deluxe Kickstarter drew 3,129 backers and $278,302. Ian O'Toole redrew the art; the rules stayed. It launched with six maps (Rust Belt, Western US, Southern US, Germany, solo Barbados, two-player St. Lucia), then Expansion Vol. I to III (2022, 3,076 backers, $328,632, 21 maps), Vol. IV (2024, 7 maps), and Vol. V and VI (2025, 1,808 backers, $178,652, 14 maps). With promos, 53 Deluxe-style maps.

And that is a fraction. BGG lists 175 Age of Steam expansion entries, with new ones every year from 2006 through 2026. Winsome issues a numbered limited set at Essen every year. A fan-maintained map database (ageofsteammaps.com) exists, and Pittsburgh hosts a convention (Winsome Choose Some) with a library of every known map, in its fourth year in 2026. The rules stay put and the board keeps changing. That is how this game lived twenty years.

Three games in one table

	Age of Steam	Railways of the World	Steam
First release	2002 (Warfrog, licensed from Winsome)	2005 (as Railroad Tycoon, Eagle Games)	2009 (Mayfair)
Current edition	Deluxe Edition (Eagle-Gryphon, 2019 on)	Eagle-Gryphon	Mostly out of print
Character	The original. Harsh. Bankruptcy is real	Simplified, big map, plastic trains	Basic and Standard rule sets
BGG rank / rating / weight	138 / 7.88 / 3.86	244 / 7.66 / 3.02	350 / 7.54
Maps	53 Deluxe plus many older and fan maps	Many expansion maps	Double-sided board plus expansions

BGG figures as of 2026-09-07. Ranks move daily.

On video

Steam vs. Age of Steam vs. Railways of the World (The Dice Tower, 2009): all three compared in one sitting. Age of Steam is harsh enough that one mistake can knock you out; Railways is the easiest.
Rust Belt 4-player teach and playthrough (Heavy Cardboard, 2019): a full three-hour game. The video most often recommended to first-time viewers.
Age of Steam Deluxe rules explained (Hyeonong, 2019, Korean): components and rules of the Korean edition in 34 minutes.

About this site

This site is an unofficial, free fan implementation of Rust Belt and other official maps. The real thing is the Deluxe Edition from Eagle-Gryphon Games. The map stories get better with the box on the table.

Sources

Wikipedia: Age of Steam, Railways of the World
International Gamers Awards 2003
BGG: Age of Steam, Railways of the World, Steam (rank, rating, weight)
Eagle-Gryphon Games product page (rights notice)
Deluxe Kickstarter, Expansion Vol. I to III, Vol. V and VI
ageofsteammaps.com, Winsome Choose Some

Try it yourself