Scroll down for links and comments on for seat61; EuropeanRailTimetable;Traveline South West and more: FirstGreatWestern;German Rail website;FirstScotrail for bargain Sleepers - more to follow.
EuropeanRailTimetable: successor to the late but no longer so lamented Cook's European Rail Timetable, this monthly-published timetable book is gallantly and successfully produced by the former editors and has been able to keep the comfortably familiar typeface, content (updated of course) and design. The web may help you to book and answer your specific timetable questions BUT this printed timetable lets you imagine trips and variants of trips, which you though unimaginable AND then to plan and achieve them. It also lets you re-plan when you are on the move and either you changed your mind about where you want to go OR, heaven forbid, fate in the form of a missed connection or cancelled train forces you hand. It is simply the NEW BIBLE for rail travellers in all Europe and beyond. Not so much a website -more a way of life!
seat61 - the invaluable rail website - broadly this website does what it 'says on the tin', summed up in the quote:
"More and more people are looking for a more environmentally-sound, less stressful and more rewarding way to travel than simply flying everywhere. Taking a train or ferry from the UK to anywhere in Europe is easy and affordable, in many cases a far more practical alternative than most people imagine. The problem is finding out about it, as most travel agents and 'big business' in general simply don't want to know. They'd rather sell you flights, flights, car hire and more flights. The same can often be said for overland travel by regular train, ferry or bus services around the world. The Man in Seat Sixty-One sets out to address this problem and explain in simple terms, how you can put the romance and interest back into travel without breaking the bank."
Mark Smith has unrivaled experience of providing rail information in and internationally out of Britain and is usually my first port of call when heading abroad. He is less useful for round tours involving, for example, an Italy-Austria stretch. It does not provide specific suggestions for making use of the railways and of course it does not cover bus travel . In the past he had something of a bias towards Eurostar but now includes the ferry alternatives for example to Spain.
If I'm giving stars however, it gains * * * * *!
Traveline South West - Plan your journey - English - the basic tool for getting around by public transport in South West England. Sometimes a bit frustrating when it won't let you walk enough between links by bus or train and instead gets you to wait for complicated, less than realistic, connections but on the whole a notable asset. For longer jouneys outside the region its mother page http://traveline.info/ sets you off to other regions or National door-door in the UK,though not always via the cheapest rail connections.
FirstGreatWestern is where I begin for UK rail travel - its free for a start but you need to play around with different combinations of times you need to leave and times you need to arrive as well as how to split longer journeys and the advantages of fixed time advance tickets. The price differences can be dramatic.
German rail website is the place to go for all point to point rail times across Europe as well as for booking most German trains and some international ones.
FirstScotrail website for Caledonian Sleepers - THE best way to escape from London (The Cornish Riviera Sleeper is second and Eurostar third)
More sites to follow...
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