Edward Harriman began as a $5-a-week office boy and came to head a mighty railroad empire.

The terms "robber baron" and "monopoly" are used only in passing at the Financial History Museum's exhibit on the financing of the nation's railroad empires.

There are games that let you simulate railroad empires, tropical dictatorships, golf resorts and countless other worlds.

He actively expanded the family's railroad empire, and added millions to the gargantuan Vanderbilt family fortune.

Palmer started a project in 1880 to make what had been a local railroad from Colorado into a transcontinental railroad empire.

And a railroad empire - the Lionel Lines - was born.

He next applied similar methods to building his railroad empire, creating the New York Central almost singlehandedly.

Henry Villard built his visionary six-house complex just as his railroad empire began to crumble, but he left an enduring imprint on the city's streetscape.

Next week, more games, including building a railroad empire.

The Minneapolis Great Northern Depot was built to serve the railroad empire of James J. Hill.