1856 is one of my favourite 18XX game which include basic 18XX genre elements, with addition of loans, partial capitalization for company opening, and merging into a government railway by government bailout. The greedy private railroad company owner borrow money from Canadian government but can opt not to return the money seemingly irrational but was historical as many railroads at that time was bankrupt and nationalized.

As the game use partial capitalization for company opening, the railroad company was short on cash and need to borrow loan to fund for train purchase or pay track cost.

In the opening, there are 'magic numbers'.

• $200 -- Two shares at $100.
• $195 -- Three shares at $65. (In a five player game, that means that you can bid $105 for the tunnel/bridge and still open a company. But no more).

In this game, some companies were initially more profitable than others. The following is my suggesting list of which company should be prioritized to be opened earlier in the game:

LPS

This company is very close to the profitable Sarnia red-off place (30 income in early game)+ potential tunnel benefit can make pretty good income in early game. Often you start at $100 or $90 par can make LPS buy two 2Ts which gives $10 per share in OR 2.1 . Also It has very close destination - St. Thomas which often can cooperate with the GW to reach destination as the first one. This can help fund the company early and can easily buy double 3Ts for early cash grab.

GW

This company has 3 tokens and can cooperate with the LPS for track placing. Though this is not good early cash grabber, its route would be pretty nice in middle game as well as decent final income. (London can upgrade to $50 (green)/$60 (brown) city and Detroit destination is also $60). As it is close to St. Thomas which is a port city, it is second best to be opened (best: LPS) if you are the owner of the private Great Lake Shipping. The port token can earn many if you can manage to open LPS/GW.

WR/CPR

WR is a good early cash cow if you can secure a sharp and gentle tile towards Buffalo (early 30 red off space). WR usually can secure double 2Ts and later double 3Ts, it can also get $10 per share or even more with bridge private bonus. However, it is bad for reaching destination as it need to pay for the $40 mountain track cost.

CPR in the other hand can also be pretty profitable with Barrie upgrading to 50/60 income. As it is easier to reach destination Toronto than WR. It is much better for late stage development as Toronto will be a $100 income city.

Both CPR and WR in my sight are more the less the same. However, if you have a Great Lake Shipping private, WR is better as Ft Erie is also a port city.

CV/GT/CA

CV is slow on open stage but securing a token on Burlington can be profitable for late stage as both Toronto and Hamilton are big income city at grey stage. However, it earns slowly in early stage as time/cumulative effect does matter a lot in 18XX series.

GT is OK to open and yields good income for early stage ( $9 for double 2Ts, $7 for a 3T). But it is more difficult to reach destination than CPR for example, still it can put a token early in big Toronto city.

CA is second tier but sometimes it can cooperate with LPS/GW for early mid-stage company opening. As rail track develops usually better at west, CA can benefit it a lot during mid-stage.

BBG/TGB/ WGB/ THB

From locations wise, they are clearly late stage companies. ( At least after last 4T is bought).