About a week before Christmas I purchased a used copy of Empire Builder, the crayon rail game with the North America map, from Amazon.  This is the version that I first played (back in 1985 or 1986).  It has a different map than the current version in that it is only southern Canada and the United States (the latest version also has Mexico).  This game was the impetus for me buying the British Rails game during Christmas 1986.  It was the creative spark for the trucking game which I made (for Marlin I believe), was a pretty much unplayable, and parts of which hung around until our recent move to Texas.

The game arrived yesterday, and was eagerly opened (by myself and Danaya who is my prime partner in crayon rails).  Alas, it was missing the six large puzzle pieces that make up the playing board which is essential to gameplay.  I have emailed the Amazon partner who sold the game (and described it as “Condition: Collectible – Very Good”), and am waiting to see what the resolution will be.  Who knows, maybe they have six large puzzle pieces of the Canada/US map with lots of mileposts on it hanging around their online store.