DB has removed the ticket machine from the Rothenburg train station. And, there is no DB ticket office. I learned from a local Traveller that the machine is now on the train itself, a recent change. It took the help of the other Traveller plus another couple to figure out how to operate the Automat. It does not take a credit card, only cash. The screens are a bit different from those normally found in a train station.
Yet another couple were able to buy a ticket directly from the conductor after they told him that they had called to arrange it!?!?
Maybe too many train users at Rothenburg were not familiar enough with the system to use it without help.
The majority of people that boarded the train this Saturday morning already had tickets or passes.