Born again: The first edition of the new European Rail Timetable.

New beginnings

Now there is good news. The title has been saved and the timetable will once again be published on a monthly basis from March 2014. A new company—called European Rail Timetable Limited—has taken over the venture, and it certainly comes with a good pedigree. John Potter is the man at the helm; he worked for many years on the timetable when it was published by Thomas Cook.

An experienced team

John and his team have, between them, over 100 years of experience in working with timetables from around the world. Speaking about the renaissance of the title, John tells us that he hopes that the new timetable “will continue to inspire travel around Europe and beyond, as the timetables produced by Thomas Cook did for over 140 years.”

A sample page from the new European Rail Timetable from the section on Finland.

The timetable

The new timetable maintains the general format of before, with continuity of the table numbers with which many travelers are already familiar. And the very useful schematic maps are still there. Each issue will contain bang-up-to-date schedules for rail services across Europe: from Portugal to Russia, from Greece to Norway. Rail services on European islands (eg. Britain, Sardinia, Mallorca, etc.) are also included. As in Thomas Cook days, each issue will include summary tables for another part of the world beyond Europe. For the debut issue, China is in the spotlight.

The first issue of the new timetable will be rolling off the presses at the end of this week. You can order a copy on the company’s website.

The post European Rail Timetable: Relaunching an essential train publication appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

One book: 140 years of travel history

But the March 2013 issue of the “Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable” is not just any timetable. This edition marks the 140th anniversary issue of the book that has become the bible for rail travelers across Europe.

During almost the entire life of Europe’s railways, the Thomas Cook timetable has become the indispensable companion for train travelers across the continent. The book started life in 1873 as “Cook’s Continental Time Tables and Tourist’s Handbook” and was for several decades known simply as “Cook’s Continental” — those who really affected familiarity with the European railway scene would abbreviate the title to “The Continental” or the ever terser “Cooks.”

Nowadays, it has morphed into the “European Rail Timetable” (“ERT”).

The 140th anniversary edition of Thomas Cook’s European Rail Timetable.

What’s inside?

The anniversary issue of the ERT is packed as always with rail and ferry schedules from across Europe, throwing in a few trams and buses for good measure. If you need to know on which dates the Moscow to Belgrade train carries through carriages to Skopje, this book has the answer.

This current March 2013 issue has a supplement on cruise trains and rail-based holidays. And the regular “Beyond Europe” section is this month devoted to China (even including cross-border rail services from China to Pyongyang in North Korea).

There are previews of the summer 2013 European rail schedules, most of which will be introduced this year on June 9.

In addition there is a wealth of material to mark the 140th birthday, with a retrospect on how the book has evolved over the years. That includes facsimile reproductions of old schedules (going right back to 1873).

And Thomas Cook marks this anniversary by introducing a new regular feature called “Route of the Month.” It is just a couple of pages of prose, evoking the spirit of a particular journey. They kick off with Salzburg to Vienna. But the idea recalls the very earliest days of the publication. Back in 1873, it was more than just a timetable, but also a handbook for tourists. The “Route of the Month” gives new life to that idea.

Brand power: Thomas Cook

The title may have changed over the years but this monthly publication remains the defining product of the entire Thomas Cook brand. The company has its roots in 19th-century railway history and even though many of Thomas Cook’s clients may nowadays opt for the plane over the train, the company’s trump card and key selling point is its ability to build on a rich historical tradition firmly rooted in the early work of the company’s founder.

Developments in technology have served only to underline the importance of good timetable information. Mark Smith, the rail travel guru who runs The Man in Seat Sixty-One website, nicely captures the success of the ERT in his comment: “Internet or no internet, nothing rivals the Thomas Cook timetable for laying out the routes, trains and options for travel across Europe and beyond, and I’d be lost without it.”

The one thing you will certainly not normally see on the cover of the ERT nowadays is a steam train. But in a nice gesture to history, the March 2013 issue does recall the age of steam. Oddly, the very first edition of the book in 1873, apart from the obligatory train pic on its cover, also included a camel. The camel was eased out to make way for a Rhine steamer in 1900.

This very special edition of the monthly timetable is certainly one for the archives — every bit as handsome as the March 1973 centenary issue that has now become a rarity much sought after by collectors.

The post European Rail: Celebrating 140 years of Thomas Cook Timetables appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

“Easily the best atlas there is.”

The best investment we ever made was in a handsome atlas, but it’s clearly something for the home library rather than to carry on a journey. We have dipped and delved into many atlases over the years, but the clear winner in our book is The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, which travel writer Paul Theroux nicely commended as “the whole world in a single volume,” and Bill Bryson dubbed “easily the best atlas there is.”

Britain and France

Various national mapping agencies in Europe produce first-class maps showing roads, railways, landscape features and more–generally only for their own territories.

Top of the range is the classy cartography of Ordnance Survey (OS), once Britain’s military mapping agency which has transformed itself over the last 30 years into a customer-oriented company serving business and leisure markets. If we had any say in these matters, we would long ago have extended the OS remit to cover the planet, but that’s just a dream so we can only imagine how wonderful an OS Landranger map of the Camargue or the Crimea would be.

France is blessed with great national map coverage at various scales, with IGN and Michelin locked in head-to-head competition. Our preference is for IGN (really the only option if you are looking for large scale maps suitable for hikers), but Michelin offers elegant medium and small scale maps for long road trips.

Reise-Know-How

We are very impressed with many of the mid- and small-scale maps of Freytag & Berndt, a long established company in Austria which has produced maps of most areas of the world. That company’s 1:150,000 road atlas of Croatia and Slovenia is a gem that has served us well over many years.

For sheer quality of cartography, though, the maps of Reise-Know-How are hard to beat, and they come sensibly printed on waterproof tear-resistant paper. This German company specializes in areas overlooked by mainstream mapping agencies, and we have found their maps of lesser known parts of Europe to be a real godsend. As dedicated rail travelers, we much like the fact that Reise-Know-How maps give some prominence to railway lines (which too often on other maps play second fiddle to roads).

Rail Maps

Of course, if you are traveling by train around Europe, it pays to get a dedicated rail map. Pick of the bunch is the Thomas Cook Rail Map of Europe. The 18th edition of this old favorite is published next week. Europe’s rail network is so fluid, with new routes opening and closing every year, that it is really worth having an up-to-date edition.

A new edition of the same company’s Rail Map of Britain and Ireland is also published on 3 February. Publication dates for both maps in the US market are about a month later.

The post hidden europe: Our favorite European map makers appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.