Have you used Loco2 to purchase train tickets?

Yes, I have used loco2 a number of times for international journeys. I can recommend them.
They can do routes that involve a mix of international trains and internal trains, which is probably why they gave you a route nobody else offered (though I have no experience of whether Captaine Train can do this). The national rail companies do not do this and you then have to go to another site for the last leg.
They do print-at-home tickets as the default option, otherwise pick up at the station tickets. They don't send tickets by post.

Sue, price comparisons I made for some of the countries through which I'm traveling this fall (Hungary, Croatia & Slovenia) show that buying tickets on each country's respective railway is significantly cheaper than purchasing them on Loco2. Whether that holds true for countries other than the three above, I can't say. And in one case, a ticket from Loco2 was twice the price of one from MAV (Hungarian Railway). Payment is also charged in British Pounds, and the dollar-pound exchange rate does not favor the former.

Other than that, it's a well-designed site and easy to navigate. I also found more choice in some schedules than even a country's own rail system shows. Unfortunately for international trips, it doesn't tell you on which country's rail system you're traveling, though it's likely the one at the point of departure. It also doesn't show any intermediate station stops, at least for direct trains. And for special situations (bicycles on trains, etc.), it simply refers customers to a country's own rail system. I don't see any great benefit in buying from Loco2.

I agree, for journeys wholely within a country, buy from the railway company's own website.
The problem is if you have a journey involving both national and international trains. No one company site can do this (though some try). This is where Loco2 (or Captaine Train) have an advantage. These companies do not cover all countries, so far just western Europe.

Frankfurt - Colmar involves:

• Frankfurt Airport - Offenburg (German train) ICE, reservations possible, but coming off a flight you cannot say when you will be travelling, so best to get an "open" ticket
• Offenburg - Strasbourg (international train, but this is a local train, no reservations)
• Starsbourg - Colmar (reservations not needed).

Careful, Loco2 quotes prices in British Pounds, so you have to make a currency adjustment to compare against prices quoted in Euros.

I've looked at Loco2 for travel completely within Germany, and my conclusion is that, if you don't know what you are doing, it works as well as the Bahn, but you have more options with the Bahn. Specifically, Loco2:

1. only gives you one "via" and does not allow you to specify the type of train (regional or express) on any leg,.

2. tries to put you on an express train whenever possible. The least expensive tickets are always "train specific, non-refundable",

3. does not recognize Länder tickets.

4. sometimes cannot write one through ticket, but breaks a trip into two tickets.

Last Sept I went with a friend from Bad Wildbad, in the Black Forest, to Sigmaringen, in Baden-Württemburg, via the Schwarzwaldbahn. I used only regional trains and a Baden-Württemburg-Ticket for 27€.

For Loco, I put in Triberg as the via, and it insisted on writing me two tickets, Bad Wildbad to Triberg, including an IC (for 29€, ) and Triberg to Sigmaringen (for 45,60€), 74,60€ total. Even though it used a segment with an IC, Loco's trip took almost an hour longer.

Maybe someone more familiar with Loco can tell me how to get a 27€ fare from Bad Wildbad to Sigmaringen via (no stopover) in Triberg.

A week later, I went from Pfronten to Mittenwald for lunch, then Mittenwald to Oberammergau. We left Pfronten at 10:22, were in Mittenwald by 12:30, had lunch, took the train to Garmisch, then the bus to Oberammergau, arriving just before 4 PM. I did it with a Bayern-Ticket, for 27€.

Loco shows a train leaving Pfronten at 8:22, too early for the Bayern-Ticket. The next train they show is at 14:22! (I really did catch one at 10:22.) My trip, leaving Pfronten at 10:22, took 5½ hrs, including 2 hrs for lunch in Mittenwald and the bus to Oberammergau.

Loco shows the price of the 8:22 trip (6 hrs) at 57,80€. The price of the 14:22 trip was 46€ and Loco showed the total time as 7 hours including 3 hrs in Mittenwald. Also, the Loco ticket did not use the bus (40 min) from Garmisch to Oberammergau, but instead the train through Murnau (1 hr 14 min.) Loco does not show all the trains that the Bahn shows, nor does it show buses.

It gets worse!

A simple trip - Munich to Nürnberg with a two hour stopover in Regensburg.

With the Bahn, a direct regional train to Regensburg at 9:44, two hours five minutes stopover in Regensburg, then a one hour eight minute trip direct to Nürnberg Hbf. 4 hr 43 min total time, 2 hr 38 min on the train, cost 27€ for a Bayern-Ticket.

On Loco, same input - a two train, 1 hr 54 min connection to Regensburg, on a single Savings Fare ticket for 49€. A 2 hr 21 min stay in Regensburg, then a 1 hr 51 min, two train connection to Nürnberg, also on a separate regional ticket for 40,20€. Total time 6 hr 6 min, train time 3 hr 45 min, total cost 89,20€.

I take it back, whether you know what you are doing or not, don't use Loco2 for tickets entirely in Germany.

I didn't realize the price quoted on Loco2 was in British pounds. Thanks for the information.

Loco2's primary design was for selling international rail tickets from UK departure points, hence the sterling pricing. It may be usable and convenient for other purposes but may not be as good or comprehensive as national alternatives, particularly those where the particular countries railways full API and / or data is not made readily available to third parties as is the case for the UK.

"I didn't realize the price quoted on Loco2 was in British pounds" - it's got a bloody great '£' sign in front of all the prices. How more obvious can you get?
For trains within each country you go to that countriey site. For through ticketing involving more than one country, national sites cannot do this, so go to loco2 or capitainetrain.

Gosh Chris F.....so wasn't observant enough to notice the price was in British pounds......take me out and shoot me!! You need to take a chill pill.

"national sites cannot do this"

Not entirely true.

Of course, you can usually get tickets online for trains that run from Germany direct to cities in other countries. Example, the EC from Berlin to Prague or from Munich to some Italian cities.

Additionally, the Bahn has an agreement with Swiss Rail that allows them to sell ticket online, including Savings Fares, from places inside Germany to places inside Switzerland, even when the route uses express train segments on Swiss trais between Swiss cities. For instance, you can get a Saving Fare ticket from Munich to Interlaken Ost from the Bahn for 118€ (you can also get the same ticket for the same price from Loco).

When the DB web site sells it as an e-ticket, that would always be my first choice for reliability, ease, and price.