Maps, books and timetables for European trains?

I use the Thomas Cook rail map to plot out my rail routes and tailoring them to my traveling as well the DB website.

This puts me in mind of the menetrend my friend and I used to buy when living in Hungary in the early 1990s to plot our travels and see what was possible. I totally agree that your mind can find things and make connections when reviewing paper that just aren’t there or aren’t obvious when you are inputting data on a screen and getting “the best” answer to your very particular question.

I don’t have any resources to suggest; your question has just made me reflect nostalgically.

Sorry no paper suggestions. Is there a reason you wouldn't want to use the DB Website online? It is so much faster and has a great deal of information. I can't even imagine the amount of extra time you will spend using paper.

Maybe you've noticed that with the advent of Al Gore's Internet, businesses have taken advantage of how much cheaper it is to "publish" things virtually instead of physically. Even my wife's regional Orchid Society (she's the President, at the moment) charges $25 extra a year to get the Newsletter in the US mail. And believe me, Orchid Society members skew ... how you say ... mature!

Anyway, this has good and bad aspects. Many hotels, American and European, are really lousy about answering email. That's because it costs real dollars/Euros to employ people to do that. Sometimes, when it's done right, the electronic version is better. Yes, it's harder at first, and you have to learn how to do it. But an example of that is railroad schedules. Instead of having to pay Rail Europe or some other intermediary (read: RENT collector ... ) to compile already-out-of-date schedules into a master timetable, you can read the most up to date material for your main country of travel, and that country can seamlessly link into destinations beyond its borders, when you ASK it to.

When I see the prices on physical maps at Barnes and Noble (or wherever), I shy away. I don't like printed out Google Maps very much, but they are essentially ... free. I've found that Waze (which annoys me, sure) works just fine in foreign countries, and can make adjustments dynamically (Garmin's not as good) for closures and traffic.

Sometimes I look at our host's rail maps by TIME instead of DISTANCE (blue menu top left right here). But I broke the paper habit. At $80 a month now, I'll eventually break the paper New York Times habit .... after 60 or so years.

Thank you for the replies from individuals who understand the pleasure of working with paper maps and timetables. I assume that we are also the same people who enjoy reading guide books (such as the RS series) rather than getting everything online.

Yes, this trip will truly be nostalgic: I remember a student rail pass trip in <cough> in which we frantically dashed from major city to major city, slept on trains (sitting of course), got a room from the tourist info kiosk in the train station, and lived on pizza and baguette.

Now, in 2020: upon further digging, it looks like the rights to the Thomas Cook maps and timetables were sold to "European Rail Timetable Limited" and their most recent products are:

• Rail Map Europe -- 2nd ed (July 2019)
• European Rail Timetable (Summer 2019)

both of which I can find on Amazon US and Amazon UK. I would also like to find a book like "Japan by Rail" , which is really a travel book geared to exploring Japan by rail -- big cities and rural areas alike.

I have a paper Thomas Cook rail map of Europe that I got in 2005; I guess it's time for me to update. :) I have found it invaluable in my trip planning. Enjoy your trip!

I used to travel with the Cook's timetable in my suitacase and at various times also owned separate books for Austria and Switzerland. Other than the weight issue, I liked using the books (and definitely prefer guidebooks on paper), but I've adjusted fairly well to the schedule information available on the internet. If you poke around you can usually find a route map that helps identify potential problems--such as the tendency for rail lines to radiate out from capital cities like Paris and Budapest.

You can find the European Rail Timetable (monthly issues, seasonal issues, maps, etc.) at their own website: europeanrailtimetable.eu . They are quite active and you may find just what you are looking for.

Thank you for the replies, and for the direction to the European Rail Timetable website. A useful resource

And, yes, the printed tomes are heavy. That is why my planning (and dreaming) process involves paper maps and timetables while at home, but when travelling I just take the large paper maps and use current online resources -- just as I use printed guidebooks at home, but don't carry them -- or at most carry a few torn out pages --- when I travel.

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

There’s nothing like being at the kitchen table (or on the sofa) with maps and books spread all around, highlighter and page flags at the ready . . .

MJ, you are not alone. I enjoyed perusing the old Thomas Cook guides too. Once you learned how to read the routes and schedules, you could figure out how to get anywhere. Paper maps give you a sense of distance and direction that a smooth-talking GPS cant. References on paper let you find things of interest that you didn't already know were there.

Oh, good: there ARE other people who understand the magic of pouring over maps and books and timetables.

I am also reminded of the OAG guides -- the global airline timetables. My father and I loved studying route maps together and planning fantastical trips that we would never take in reality, but took in our minds' eyes. And I caught his travel bug and learned a LOT of geography.

My 2019 rail map should be here in a few days!

Most definitely I resort to printed maps, rail and others, to plot out, plan routes on a coming trip. I don't use google maps. Thomas Cook's rail map is well worth it. Not only rail routes are shown on them, which can further your imagination on where to go.

I still have my 2011 Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable and refer to it. I used to take out the pages pertinent to our trips and take them with me (then bring them home and stick them back in the book). On our of our early trips to Italy, I was able to buy at a train station a booklet with the timetables for trains in Italy (approximately 5"x7", maybe 1/8" thick) that cost maybe 5 euros. I loved that, too.

I have used Thomas Cook and European Rail Timetables since the late 70s, to get a quick overview and general idea of what is possible. I then go to the internet for up-to-date specifics.

Paper still has its place. I can often find what I want more quickly in a book...I just have to open up the book/map and flip to the useful page, and I can do that faster than turning on a computer and clicking through several screens to get what I want.
MJ, you typed, "magic of pouring over maps..." I appreciate that you used "pouring" rather than "poring," which I see so often and which drives me (a little) crazy.

Alice, when I am poring over travel books , I try not to be pouring anything because I am so apt to spill it on the books and maps....

Oh dear. I really didn't think about the homonyms, but now I've looked up "poring" and "pouring" and it seems that I was indeed wrong.... should have been "poring". Mea culpa (but this is an interesting tangent!)

From The Grammarist.com:

The phrase meaning to study carefully is pore over. It comes from a little-used sense of the verb pore—namely, to meditate deeply. In modern writing, this sense of pore rarely appears outside this phrase.
Pour over is of course a meaningful phrase in its own right, but it has nothing to do with studying. It’s what you do, for example, with milk to a bowl of cereal.

Whooda thunk? Tho' I will confess that the odd glass of red wine has been inadvertently poured over a map ... or two ....

I also prefer paper copies - but how to get the new ones/new areas I want, or "information on regional and local routes."

The good news is that Europe is so mass transit oriented that there are buses or regional trains that go just about anywhere - and the up-to-date bus line maps would never have been easily accessible on paper maps.

More and more regional websites actually have their bus and regional train route maps and timetables on line. You can download them and print them, but you then have them. Also there are nonlocal/regional Apps for your phone/computer.

http://www.sii.bz.it/en/app-sudtirol2go

https://www.vgn.de/en/

https://www.postauto.ch/en

Poring over the travel details/possibilities with a good high-resolution map and the local timetables from the local websites has worked really well for me.

Oh my goodness, I stand corrected regarding "poring" and "pouring."
I did not know that pore was a verb at all, I only think pores on my skin, when I see "poring."
I have been using "pouring" in the sense that my eyes were flowing over what I was looking at.
I apologize for my smart mouth. (MJ, I was sincerely thinking your usage was correct, I was not being sarcastic!")

No worries, Alice! I didn't think about it when writing, but if pressed I would have said "poUring, of course" having never been aware of "to pore" as a verb.

My rail map and timetable book arrive today, per Amazon. Pressing decision: what red wine to pour and enjoy this evening while poring over my new toys! A lovely way to end a week!