More train questions-Germany and Austria

From the Salzburg station diagram I found, you will not have any problem moving from Platform 3 to Platform 2. You don't have to downstairs and back up, just walk across the same platform to the opposite side of the building housing (apparently) an information counter and waiting room. Just be at the door of your carriage with your luggage in hand as the incoming train pulls into the Salzburg station. You need to get off the train before people start boarding and blocking the aisles. That would be a problem. You should have no issue making that transfer; others will be doing the same thing.

I can't answer your question about the a, b, c positions on the platform, but usually the first-class carriages are positioned so that the high-paying customers don't have to walk terribly far.

In Stuttgart you are almost certain to have to go downstairs to cross over from Platform 9 to Platform 7. There will probably be an elevator (or escalator) available at each platform. Look for one before wrestling your luggage down and up the stairs.

Always, always check the electronic boards in the station or at the platform to be sure you are getting on the correct train. It is possible for a train to be assigned to a different platform.

At Salzburg Hbf, Gleis 2 and Gleis 3 are on the same platform, so literally you exit the arriving train and walk 25 feet across the platform and board the other train. It should be waiting for you when you arrive.
http://www.meinbezirk.at/salzburg-stadt/lokales/ab-montag-oeffnet-die-passage-von-der-elisabeth-vorstadt-nach-schallmoos-m3910489,509509.html

Stuttgart is a terminal type station where you just walk to the end of the train and then to your other track. With 50 minutes, there is time to grab snack in the station. There are little coffee/snack bars at the head of each track, and of course stands and shops with more variety throughout the station.

Yes, the train from Offenburg to Mannheim to Mainz to Koblenz to Cologne gives very nice views of the Rhine Gorge and the castles. Sit on the right hand side.

Cologne to Duesseldorf airport is a local VRS ticket you just buy it out of the machine. Its 11.20 EUR per person on the regional express train, and it will include the Sky Train monorail from the airport Fernbahnhof to the terminal. Surprisingly, if you bought a Deutsche Bahn ticket for an IC or ICE train, you would have to buy a VRR short trip ticket for 1.60 EUR per person out of the machine at the station to ride the little monorail.

Thanks for setting my mind at ease, both of you!

The ticket machine for our ride to the Airport is at the Cologne station, then? We don't have a pin and chip cc so will the ticket machine take coins or paper euros?

Is the signage good at the Dusseldorf Airport? We are flying Are Lingus.

Yes, you can buy it out of the DB machines at Cologne Hbf. In fact, last year I trouble with my PIN & chip card, so I just fed in some EUR bills to get my tickets to DUS. Flew Aer Lingus as well and was very easy to find and the gate agents were quite helpful. DUS is not that big an airport and is my favorite in Europe.

PS. Are Lingus is at Terminal C, which is the last stop on the Skytrain.

Ticket machines take cash, both coins and bills. If it is a DB machine, it takes an American credit card, always worked for me when using chip and signature card or the magnetic stripe card. You do not need a chip and pin card exclusively to work a DB machine. The pictograms show that.

Austrian Rail shows the station plan of the Salzburg station at this URL. As mentioned earlier, tracks 2 & 3 are on opposite sides of the same platform.

Kathy, The A, B, C and D to mark out the platform are common in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
First class does not stop at a fixed position, it varies from train to train. The indicators on the platform show where each section of the train will stop. Shorter trains may only occupy part of the platform length. There are sometimes posters showing where each coach will be, relative to the A, B, C and D.
There are also announcements, which will be in German and may, if you are lucky, also be in English at a major international station like Vienna. For example: "Erste Klasse Sektor C, zweite Klasse Sektor A und B. First class sector C, second class sectors A and B"

There are sometimes posters showing where each coach will be, relative to the A, B, C and D. Allow me to elaborate a little. If you have a reservation, it will indicate which number carriage to board. When you arrive on the platform, look at the information board. Find your train. It will indicate on which section of the platform (A, B, C, etc.) your carriage will stand when the train stops. Of course, you can board anywhere on the train where the doors open, but knowing where your carriage stops makes it much easier to reach your assigned seat.

Ticket machines take cash, both coins and bills. If it is a DB machine, it takes an American credit card, always worked for me when using chip and signature card or the magnetic stripe card. You do not need a chip and pin card exclusively to work a DB machine. The pictograms show that.

Thank you! I know when we were in Amsterdam at the airport in 2015 our debit/credit cards would not work in the ticket machines. We had to go to the ticket counter to get tickets from the airport to Amsterdam Central Station.

Austrian Rail shows the station plan of the Salzburg station at this URL. As mentioned earlier, tracks 2 & 3 are on opposite sides of the same platform.

That link was very helpful, Lee. I was able to see where the lounge for the train station was located in Vienna. I mean having first class tickets provides you with admission to the lounge...might as well take advantage of that benefit, eh?

There are sometimes posters showing where each coach will be, relative to the A, B, C and D. Allow me to elaborate a little. If you have a reservation, it will indicate which number carriage to board. When you arrive on the platform, look at the information board. Find your train. It will indicate on which section of the platform (A, B, C, etc.) your carriage will stand when the train stops. Of course, you can board anywhere on the train where the doors open, but knowing where your carriage stops makes it much easier to reach your assigned seat.

I wish I knew how to multi-quote here, lol!
Thank you, Chris and Tom for this explanation. I don't have the letter designations on my tickets so I'm assuming that will be on the information board. Makes sense that those cars will be perhaps the most convenient to board. I am relieved that all we'll have to do in Salzburg is turn around to board the next train. I am feeling less anxious about train travel now. This board is so wonderful in helping newbies out....maybe I'll be able to return the favor upon our return! I'm guessing the more familiar one gets with the various train stations in Europe the more confident one will be for future trips.

I don't have the letter designations on my tickets so I'm assuming that will be on the information board.

At German stations, yes, a pictogram on the information board will show you where your carriage will stop. I don't remember if Austrian stations provide the same information, but they probably do. Worst case scenario, you would have to walk through several carriages to find your reserved seat, if you enter the train from the wrong area of the platform. That's about it.

Here is a photo of a train composition board. On top you will see the letters A,B,C,D,E,F. The individual trains shown have the car number on each car. However, since the train you are changing to in Salzburg should already be standing in the station when you arrive, it may be easier to just walk over and look at the car number by the door. The car numbers are almost always consecutive. So if say, your ticket says you are in Wagen(car) 12, and you see the car in front of you is Wagen 15, then you just walk to the car 3 cars away. Of course, if the next car says Wagen 16, then you know you went the wrong way and turn around. And, there will be conductors standing on the platform and you can just show your ticket and ask them where your car is.

http://images40.fotki.com/v1261/photos/1/1055340/4399915/2007DBTrainComposition-vi.jpg

Like in German stations, those in Austria also have a pictogram showing train composition. But not the same word is used. In Austria it's under "Wagenreihung" whereas in Germany It is under "Wagenstandanzeiger"