93-650: The European Rail Timetable , more commonly known by its former names, the Thomas Cook European Timetable , the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable or simply Cook's Timetable , is an international timetable of selected passenger rail schedules for every country in Europe , along with a small amount of such content from areas outside Europe. It also includes regularly scheduled passenger shipping services and
186-468: A Route of the Month article in each monthly edition; it features narrative travel writing describing a particular European rail journey, usually with cross-reference to particular table numbers in the timetable section of the book. The legacy publication, independently published since March 2014 and now titled European Rail Timetable, continues to carry a Route of the Month in every issue. From early 2015,
279-533: A compendium of railway and steamship timetables for continental Europe was proposed by Cook employee John Bredall and approved by John Mason Cook, son of company founder Thomas Cook . The first issue was published in March 1873, under the title Cook's Continental Time Tables & Tourist's Handbook . The first editor , part-time only, was John Bredall. The title was later altered to Cook's Continental Time Tables, Tourist's Handbook and Steamship Tables . Publication
372-638: A 520-page book. A more substantial change was implemented early in 1977, when coverage was expanded to world-wide, and the title was changed from the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable to the Thomas Cook International Timetable . The new information for non-European countries was much more condensed than that for Europe, but the change still added 80 pages to the publication. The monthly print run exceeded 20,000 in summer 1977. In January 1981,
465-547: A Pilgrimage , contains an aside called A Faithful Bradshaw . This section describes a comical incident where the author always gets misled by referring to outdated guides. In the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel “Raising Steam,” Moist Von Lipwig meets a Mrs. Georgina Bradshaw who subsequently begins writing guides to rail destinations for the Ankh-Morpork and Sto Lat Hygienic Railway. In June 1847
558-629: A book was published to mark the 1000th edition of the JTB timetable, containing reproductions of all one thousand covers, selected timetables and maps, and articles on the way the timetable is produced. There are also many searchable online timetables covering all forms of transport, for example http://www.hyperdia.com/ . Timetables for PDAs, mobile phones and PCs are readily available. Published every month and covers all trains, highway bus, ferry and domestic air services. Every year, in December and June,
651-697: A character's "Bradshaw". Dickens refers to it in his short stories "The Portrait-Painter's Story" (1861) and "Mrs Lirriper's Lodgings" (1863), so does Trollope in “ He knew he was right ” (1869). In Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days , Phileas Fogg carries a Bradshaw. In W. Somerset Maugham 's "The Book Bag" the narrator states "I would sooner read the catalogue of the Army and Navy Stores or Bradshaw's Guide than nothing at all, and indeed have spent many delightful hours over both these works" Crime writers were fascinated with trains and timetables, especially as
744-490: A crown (equivalent to £10 in 2023). Bradshaw's timetables became less necessary from 1923, when more than 100 surviving companies were "grouped" into the Big Four . This change reduced dramatically the range and number of individual timetables produced by the companies themselves. They now published a much smaller number of substantial compilations which between them covered the country. Between 1923 and 1939, three of
837-631: A few coach services on routes where rail services are not operated. Except during World War II and a six-month period in 2013–14, it has been in continuous publication since 1873. Until 2013 it was published by Thomas Cook Publishing , in the United Kingdom , and since 1883 has been issued monthly. The longstanding inclusion of "Continental" in the title reflected the fact that coverage was, for many years, mostly limited to continental Europe . Information on rail services in Great Britain
930-776: A new source of alibis . Examples are Ronald Knox 's The Footsteps at the Lock (1928) and novels by Freeman Wills Crofts . One mention is by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes story The Valley of Fear : "the vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous and terse, but limited." Other references include another Sherlock Holmes story, " The Adventure of the Copper Beeches "; Lewis Carroll 's long poem Phantasmagoria ; and Bram Stoker 's Dracula , which makes note of Count Dracula reading an "English Bradshaw's Guide" as part of his planning for his voyage to England. In
1023-438: A particular stop. Traditionally this information was provided in printed form, for example as a leaflet or poster. It is now also often available in a variety of electronic formats. In the 2000s, public transport route planners / intermodal journey planners have proliferated and offer traveller the convenience that the computer program looks at all timetables so the traveller doesn't need to. A "timetable" may also refer to
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#17327835717641116-430: A perceived lack of ability shown by those who navigated by following railway lines . When the railways were nationalised in 1948, five of the six British Railways Regions followed the companies' example by using Blacklock to produce their timetable books, but production was eventually moved to other publishers. This change must have reduced Blacklock's revenue substantially. Parts of Bradshaw's guide began to be reset in
1209-492: A railway shareholder and by putting his case at company AGMs. Soon the book, in the familiar yellow wrapper, became synonymous with its publisher: for Victorians and Edwardians alike, a railway timetable was "a Bradshaw", no matter by which railway company it had been issued, or whether Bradshaw had been responsible for its production or not. The eight-page edition of 1841 had grown to 32 pages by 1845 and to 946 pages by 1898 and now included maps, illustrations and descriptions of
1302-472: A railway traveller, the Timetable does not show every scheduled train, every line and every station for each country, but shows all major lines and most minor lines. It has always been a softcover book. World War I did not interrupt publication, but emphasis during the war was shifted more to shipping services, the result of disruption of rail service in several countries. During World War II, however,
1395-596: A satirical fantasy of Oxford undergraduates, a Bradshaw is listed as one of the two books in the "library" of the irresistible Zuleika. Anthony Trollope refers to Bradshaw's in Barchester Towers and The Warden . Bradshaw is mentioned in modern novels with a period setting, and in Philip Pullman 's The Shadow in the North ( Sally Lockhart Quartet). In Jerome K. Jerome 's 1891 novel Diary of
1488-417: A smaller scale. Shipping services consumed only about 30–35 pages in 1963 and general travel information consumed about 15–20 pages after the post-war resumption of publication. A longstanding regular inclusion was a section giving passport and visa requirements for each European country, as applicable to travellers from different countries, taking about 4–8 pages. Other longtime regular features included
1581-419: A summary of baggage and customs regulations for each country, information on foreign currencies and a table giving the annual rainfall and average monthly high and low temperatures for each of about 150–200 European cities. Some of these features, although included in the Timetable for more than a century, were scaled-back in the 1990s or 2000s, after such information became available in greater detail on
1674-539: A summer travel itinerary, subject to the railway companies of the various countries providing the information sufficiently far enough ahead of time for this "supplement". Similarly, the October and November editions include a supplement showing the planned winter schedules on major routes, for the railway operators' winter timetable period. This practice of including advance summer and winter supplements in Cook's Timetable in
1767-460: A transport service at a particular time is offered every day at that time, and if not, on which days; with a journey planner one may have to check every day of the year separately for this. Many timetables comprise tables with services shown in columns, and stations or stops on the rows of the table. There will often be separate tables for each direction of travel, and often separate (pairs of) tables for working days, weekends and holidays. Generally
1860-724: A very thick timetable book, was published but its contents are now available on the Deutsche Bahn website and CD ROM. Covers most trains. See Timetables for the Netherlands . In Switzerland timetables change happens only once a year in December all over Switzerland for any kind of public transportation means; major changes even happens only every second year on odd years. A large annual publication consisting of all Swiss railways, funiculairs, most lake and river boats, cableways, Swiss PostBus, and all other country buses timetables. All online timetables provide information for
1953-679: A year in English and Hindi. The first regularly published timetable ( Japanese : 時刻表 , Hepburn : jikokuhyō ) appeared in 1894, published by a private company. By the time of the nationalization of Japanese railways in 1906, three competing timetables were being published and it was decided that only one official timetable should be offered to the public. Five thousand copies of the first official timetable were published in January 1915. In 2010, two printed national timetables were available; one published by JTB Corporation and one published by
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#17327835717642046-410: Is a document setting out information on public transport service times. Both public timetables to assist passengers with planning a trip and internal timetables to inform employees exist. Typically, the timetable will list the times when a service is scheduled to arrive at and depart from specified locations. It may show all movements at a particular location or all movements on a particular route or for
2139-409: Is cited as being the world's first national railway map. In December 1841, acting on a suggestion made by his London agent, William Jones Adams, Bradshaw reduced the price to the original sixpence, and began to issue the guides monthly under the title Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide . Many railway companies were unhappy with Bradshaw's timetable, but Bradshaw was able to circumvent this by becoming
2232-640: Is given a distinct ISBN , in addition to the ISSN of the series title. They have a full-colour photograph on the cover, as compared to the monochrome photo on the cover of the regular European Timetable . In August 2011, about eight months after the Overseas Timetable ceased publication, a new section called "Beyond Europe" was added to the European Timetable . This section appears in every issue but rotates among six different regions of
2325-464: Is overtaken by a fast service, the slow service will often occupy more than one column, to keep the times in order. There may be additional rows showing connecting services. In most parts of the world times are shown using the 24-hour clock (although in the United States the 12-hour clock, with the addition of "am/A" or "pm/P" or with pm times in bold , is more often used). If services run at
2418-452: Is the norm for buses in some cities such as Hong Kong even during off-peak hours. A monthly timetable book of major trains, some bus and ferry services in Europe. A bi-monthly timetable book of major trains, and some bus and ferry services outside Europe, ceased December 2010. A monthly air timetable book published by OAG (Official Airline Guide), and covers all airlines and airports in
2511-560: The Middle East and North Africa that had any scheduled train service. Non-European coverage was expanded in the 1970s. Schedules for Amtrak , in the United States, were added in 1972, after Amtrak hired Thomas Cook & Son Ltd. as a sales agent and paid to have its schedules included in the Timetable . By 1974, Canadian National 's service had also been added. However, altogether, the US and Canadian section still took up only 10 pages in
2604-529: The Rail Delivery Group . It closely resembles Network Rail's former timetable book, which ceased publication in 2007, but PDF timetable files are on its website. It appears twice per year: Until 1974 each region of British Rail published its own timetable. The first Great Britain timetable started on 4 May 1974. Prior to that the only joint publication between regions had been a publication of 30 principal passenger services from 1962, following
2697-475: The Timetable and with individual timetable numbers marked for each line on the maps. Sections in which timetables for certain types of long-distance services are grouped are another longtime regular feature, with a section on " car–sleeper trains " and one covering major named international trains . After the launch of the Trans-Europe Express (TEE) network, a section covering just TEE trains
2790-560: The Timetable have included independent travellers (both tourist and business travellers), travel agents , book shops , libraries and railway enthusiasts . The Timetable has been suggested as a useful reference by travel writers in various media, such as The New York Times , and by many noted travel-guide writers. Fodor's has recommended Cook's Timetable for travellers to Europe who "want to be really knowledgeable about train times in Europe", while Let's Go Travel Guides has called it "the ultimate reference" for rail travellers on
2883-518: The Timetable , in accordance with a decision to close the company's publishing business altogether, and the final Thomas Cook edition was published in August 2013, ending a 140-year run. However, within a few months a new company was formed to take over publication of the Timetable , having secured permission and legal rights from Thomas Cook Group to do so. The new, independent company was named European Rail Timetable Limited. The first issue compiled by
Thomas Cook European Timetable - Misplaced Pages Continue
2976-810: The Transportation News Company/Kotsu Shimbunsha , itself owned by all constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (barring the RTRI ) and SoftBank . These thick books - the February 2009 edition of the JTB timetable, for example, contains 1152 pages - are published every month and cover all stations and trains of JR and private railways, as well as long-distance bus, ferry and air services. For frequent JR urban lines, subway trains, private railways and urban buses, only summary timetables are shown. In 2009,
3069-403: The United Kingdom was originally very limited, and in the period 1954–70 it was excluded altogether. Bradshaw's Railway Guide had been publishing railway timetables for Britain since 1839, and continued to do so until 1961. British Rail was publishing its own timetable book, so even after Bradshaw's ceased publication, Cook's Timetable continued to cover only the continent. However, by
3162-515: The 1866 comic opera Cox and Box , the following exchange takes place: There is also a reference in Death in the Clouds (1935) by Agatha Christie : "Mr Clancy, writer of detective stories ... extracted a Continental Bradshaw from his raincoat pocket ... to work out a complicated alibi." Bradshaw is also mentioned in her novel The Secret Adversary . In Daphne du Maurier 's Rebecca (1938),
3255-615: The 1913 edition. In December 2007, Middleton Press took advantage of Network Rail 's willingness to grant third-party publishers the right to print paper versions of the National Rail timetable . Network Rail had discontinued official hard copies in favour of PDF editions, which could be downloaded free of charge. As a tribute to Bradshaw, Middleton Press named its timetables the Bradshaw-Mitchell's Rail Times . A competing edition reproduced from Network Rail's artwork,
3348-528: The 20th century, covering at various times Continental Europe , India , Australia and New Zealand , as well as parts of the Middle-East . They survived until May 1961, when the final monthly edition of the British guide was produced. The British and Continental guides were referred to extensively by presenter Michael Portillo in his multiple television series. Bradshaw's name was already known as
3441-458: The 26 May 1974 edition. By mid-1975 the transition to local place-name spellings throughout the book had been completed. Distances between stations, shown in each route's timetable, were expressed in miles until the 1970s, but were changed to kilometres in 1976. The Timetable 's page size from 1873–1939 was 123 by 184 millimetres (4.8 in × 7.2 in), but was increased to 152 by 249 millimetres (6.0 in × 9.8 in) with
3534-525: The 2–3 months before those seasonal changes took effect started in 1958. Around 1970, listings began to use local place-name spellings instead of anglicised versions for some – but not yet all – cities for which an English spelling existed. For example, the Hague became Den Haag , and Munich became München . This change was made in steps, not all at once. It was applied to all Italian cities, such as Firenze and Napoli , with effect from
3627-633: The Big Four transferred their timetable production to Bradshaw's publisher Henry Blacklock & Co., and most of the official company timetables therefore became reprints of the relevant pages from Bradshaw. Only the Great Western Railway retained its own format. Between the two world wars , the verb 'to Bradshaw' was a derogatory term used in the Royal Air Force to refer to pilots who could not navigate well, perhaps related to
3720-403: The English version, with a brief German introduction and a different cover design. On 1 July 2013, Thomas Cook announced that it would cease publishing the Timetable and all of its other publications, in accordance with a decision to close the company's publishing business altogether. The final Thomas Cook edition of the Timetable was published in August 2013. However, at the end of October it
3813-608: The European train timetables are amended. There are seldom major changes to important routes, but the change allows for alterations to international services and for seasonal variation. Currently the dates for the European train timetable changes are usually the Sunday of the second weekend in June and in December. In the months leading up to the changeover date booking will be restricted as some railway operators are sometimes late loading in
Thomas Cook European Timetable - Misplaced Pages Continue
3906-528: The Internet, or because of the simplification of border control and currencies under the European Union . Added in about 1990 was a brief, five-language glossary of words often used by railway travellers. A one-page list of scenic rail routes is another regular inclusion. Included since at least 1949 is a multi-page section with small maps of several cities that have more than one station , showing
3999-642: The Route of the Month was complemented by a second piece of narrative writing in every issue; this additional feature gives tips of travel planning and ticketing and runs under the title Tip of the Month . Although coverage was mainly limited to continental Europe , by at least the 1960s a few pages were devoted to major routes in other areas, mostly adjacent to Europe. For example, in the February 1967 issue, 16 of its total of 440 pages were given to railway timetables for "the USSR and Far East", Turkey, and all countries in
4092-541: The adoption of that name was moved into a new publication at the beginning of 1981, the Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable ( ISSN 0144-7475 ). The Continental Timetable became the European Timetable in January 1988. Although "Rail" was added to the title in 2005, the Timetable continues to include principal passenger shipping services and a few coach (intercity bus) services, as before, and its ISSN did not change in 2005. Coverage of
4185-534: The availability of on-board facilities such as refreshments, availability of classes, and a service number. Timetables with services arranged in rows of tables and stops or stations in columns are less common but otherwise similar to timetables with services in columns. Some timetables, particularly at railway stations and bus stops , list the times that services depart from that location, sometimes with other information such as destinations and stopping conditions. Again, there may be separate lists for different days of
4278-411: The close season." In G. K. Chesterton 's The Man Who Was Thursday , the protagonist Gabriel Syme praises Bradshaw as a poet of order: "No, take your books of mere poetry and prose; let me read a time table, with tears of pride. Take your Byron, who commemorates the defeats of man; give me Bradshaw, who commemorates his victories. Give me Bradshaw, I say!" In Max Beerbohm 's Zuleika Dobson (1911),
4371-564: The continent. In Europe Through the Back Door 2005 , Rick Steves wrote that the Thomas Cook European Timetable is worth considering by any rail travellers who prefer a book format over Internet sources, when planning or taking a trip. Guide-book editor Stephen Birnbaum described the Timetable in 1991 as "a weighty and detailed compendium of European national and international rail services that constitutes
4464-437: The cover colour. In some years, a portion of the cover space was sold for an advertisement , including from the 1940s through 1975 and from 1998 through 2004. Since 2005, the cover does not carry advertising and, in the final years of publication by Thomas Cook, instead featured a monochrome photograph – changed with each issue – of a train of one of the railways of Europe. In 2013, the European Timetable started to include
4557-541: The cover of the Cooks Continental (or European ) Timetable was orange (or red-orange ) in colour, but with effect from the October 2009 issue it was changed to blue, matching the colour used for Thomas Cook's Overseas Timetable , in publication since 1981. When publication was taken over by a new publisher in 2014, what is now the European Rail Timetable returned to using red-orange for
4650-702: The demise of Bradshaw in 1961. The final printed all-line timetable was produced by Network Rail in 2007, after which versions were published both by the Stationery Office and Middleton Press. Subsequently, The Stationery Office version has been discontinued and for the summer of 2016 Middleton Press only published a reprint of the UK pages of the European Rail Timetable, although a limited two-volume comprehensive version belatedly appeared in August. Bradshaw%27s Railway Guide Bradshaw's
4743-402: The end of that decade Thomas Cook Publishing had decided it would be worthwhile to include in its Timetable a section covering the principal British services, and 64 pages of tables were added for this purpose in 1970. Following the example of some of the national railway companies on the continent (starting with Italy in 1898), the use of a 24-hour clock for train arrival and departure times
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#17327835717644836-679: The first number of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide was issued, giving the timetables of the Continental railways. It grew to over 1,000 pages, including timetables, guidebook and hotel directory. It was discontinued in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War. Briefly resurrected in the interwar years, it saw its final edition in 1939. The 1913 edition was republished in September 2012. A travel documentary series named Great Continental Railway Journeys has been made based on
4929-476: The general-information sections and the introductory paragraphs at the start of each section were translated into Japanese. From 2000 to 2009, a monthly German-language edition was published, and this was produced directly by Thomas Cook Publishing – under an agreement with Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) and titled Kursbuch Europa . Unlike the Japanese version, this edition differed only slightly from
5022-477: The gigantic intellect of man been employed upon a work of greater utility." At last, some order had been imposed on the chaos that had been created by some 150 rail companies whose tracks criss-crossed the country and whose largely uncoordinated network was rapidly expanding. Bradshaw minutely recorded all changes and became the standard manual for rail travel well into the 20th century. By 1918 Bradshaw's guide had risen in price to two shillings and by 1937 to half
5115-462: The locations of the principal rail lines and stations — and also showing metro or tram lines connecting stations, where available, to help travellers who need to go between stations to continue their journeys. The number of cities covered by this section has varied over time, between about 30 and 60. Among the changes implemented in the immediate post-war period was that timetables were numbered, by route. Previously, tables had been simply headed by
5208-503: The main features and historic buildings of the towns served by the railways. In April 1845, the issue number jumped from 40 to 141: the publisher claimed this was an innocent mistake, although it has been speculated as a commercial ploy, where more advertising revenue could be generated by making it look longer-established than it really was. Whatever the reason for the change, the numbering continued from 141. When in 1865, Punch praised Bradshaw's publications, it stated that "seldom has
5301-599: The most revered and accurate railway reference in existence." It has also been recommended by the travel website , The Man in Seat Sixty-One . A writer in a different genre, British novelist Malcolm Pryce , listed the Thomas Cook European Timetable as one of his favourite travel -related "reads" and suggested that it would appeal to those who are nostalgic for the romance of railway travel. Public transport timetable A public transport timetable (also timetable and North American English schedule )
5394-730: The name became the Thomas Cook International Timetable . From 1981, most non-European content was moved into a new publication named the Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable . "Rail" was added to the title only relatively recently, in 2005, making it the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable , but its coverage continued to include some non-rail content, such as passenger shipping and ferry timetables. The Timetable has been recommended by several editors of travel guide books for Europe, one of whom described it as "the most revered and accurate railway reference in existence". In 2013, Thomas Cook discontinued publication of
5487-416: The names of the major cities served by the route. Numbering of timetables is a common practice now. Initially, the maps for each country or region remained unaltered, not showing the timetable numbers. This changed with the issue of 23 May 1954, which introduced a set of 15 new "index maps" – in place of 10 maps previously included – all drawn in a new style, showing only the railway lines covered by
5580-491: The new company was published in March 2014, with the publication title now being European Rail Timetable , no longer including "Thomas Cook" in the name. In 2016, digital editions were introduced, and the number of printed editions per year was reduced from 12 to 6, but with digital issues thereafter being published monthly. In September 2019, Thomas Cook collapsed. The Timetable was unaffected as they no longer published it. The idea that Thomas Cook & Son should publish
5673-401: The new company was published in March 2014, with the publication title now being European Rail Timetable . After publication resumed under the new company, printed timetables were again published monthly initially, with expanded Summer and Winter seasonal issues each year also printed. In May 2016, a digital version of the Timetable was introduced. At the same time, the company announced that
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#17327835717645766-639: The new data (between several weeks and a few days before the change). However, in Switzerland timetable changes only happen once a year in December. In Switzerland major changes happen only in odd years. One of the most comprehensive European-wide timetable information is provided by the electronic timetable search engine of German Railways Deutsche Bahn (information is also available in Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Turkish). The same information, but differently presented, one also find on
5859-523: The newer British Railways style from 1955, but modernisation of the whole volume was never completed. By 1961 Bradshaw cost 12s 6d (62½p), and a complete set of BR Regional timetables could be bought for 6s (30p). The conclusion was inevitable, and the last edition, No. 1521, was dated May 1961. The Railway Magazine of that month printed a valedictory article by Charles E. Lee. Reprints of various Bradshaw's guides have been produced. 19th-century and early 20th-century novelists make frequent references to
5952-517: The next hour. Displays on platforms usually just show the next departure (or perhaps the next few) from that platform. Timetables may be printed as books, booklets, folded or plain cards or paper, posters , or hand-written on posters or blackboards , shown on back-lit displays, or published on-line or as SMS or text messages. With the development of the internet and electronic systems, conventional thick paper timetables are gradually being replaced by website searching or CD-ROM style timetables, and
6045-449: The non-European content was taken back out, to be included instead in a new bi-monthly publication entitled the Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable ( ISSN 0144-7475 ), which averaged about 420 pages and included many more coach services, in countries where intercity rail service was very limited or non-existent. With this change, the main timetable book reverted to the name Thomas Cook Continental Timetable . The Overseas Timetable
6138-635: The online timetables by the Swiss Federal Railways (in English, German, French, and Italian) and the timetable by the Czech Ministry of Transport (in Czech, and - however not to every detail - in English and German). This is a free timetable leaflet distributed in express train and has information about the departure, arrival time of the train and connecting services. For many years the “Kursbuch Gesamtausgabe” ("complete timetable"),
6231-481: The post-war resumption, and there have been only small changes to this subsequently. The Timetable currently measures 154 by 242 millimetres (6 in × 10 in). The number of pages per issue varies from issue to issue, mainly seasonally, and has varied over time. From the 1930s to the early 1990s the size of one issue usually varied between about 400 and 520 pages, while since the mid-1990s it has varied between about 560 and 600 pages. For more than 136 years
6324-436: The postwar period, and Thomas Cook began to offer it in the form of a monthly subscription, in addition to selling individual copies. From January 1919, the title was altered slightly, to Cook's Continental Time-Table . The apostrophe was dropped in 1956, and "time-table" also became one word. Subsequent name changes were made as follows: The "International" name was short-lived, as the non-European content that had prompted
6417-562: The publication of comprehensive printed timetables is generally decreasing. Transport schedule data itself is increasingly being made available to the public digitally, as specified in the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) format. In many modern public transport systems, timetables and rostering are generated by computer, with the operators specifying the required operating span, minimum frequencies, route length/time and other such factors. Design of
6510-402: The publisher of Bradshaw's Maps of Inland Navigation , which detailed the canals of Lancashire and Yorkshire , when, on 19 October 1839, soon after the introduction of railways, his Manchester company published the world's first compilation of railway timetables. The cloth-bound book was entitled Bradshaw's Railway Time Tables and Assistant to Railway Travelling and cost sixpence . In 1840
6603-475: The regular June issue was being discontinued and replaced by the Summer issue, which contains additional pages of travel information. Later in 2016, the number of monthly printed editions published per year was reduced from 12 to six—in February, April, June (as the "Summer" edition), August, October, and December ("Winter" edition). The first month for which only a digital issue was published, and no print edition,
6696-512: The same information in abstract form, not specifically published, e.g. "A new timetable has been introduced". The first compilation of railway timetables in the United Kingdom was produced in 1839 by George Bradshaw . Greater speeds and the need for more accurate timings led to the introduction of standard railway time in Great Western Railway timetables in 1840, when all their trains were scheduled to "London time", i.e. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which replaced solar time . Until railway time
6789-422: The same minutes past each hour for part of the day, the legend "and at the same minutes past each hour" or similar wording may be shown instead of individual timings. Other information may be shown, often at the tops of the columns, such as day(s) of operation, validity of tickets for each service, whether seat reservations are required, the type of vehicle used (e.g. for heritage railways and airline timetables ),
6882-561: The same timetable as the printed Official Timetable plus all Swiss city transit systems and networks as well as most railways in Europe . The user interface as well as all Swiss railways stations, and bus, boat, cable car stops are transparently available in German, French, Italian, and English spelling. Published by The Stationery Office (the official UK Government publishers), and contains information, according to its title page, "with permission of Network Rail and obtained under licence
6975-580: The schedule may aim to make times memorable for passengers, through the use of clock-face scheduling — services departing at regular intervals, at the same times every hour. This is less likely to apply at peak times, when the priority is optimum utilisation of available vehicles and staff. In large cities services may be so frequent that consulting a timetable is unnecessary. In some cases public transport operators do not publish public timetables for busy times of day, or they may simply state "services run every 3–5 minutes" (or words to that effect), which
7068-514: The second Mrs de Winter observes that "Some people have a vice of reading Bradshaws. They plan innumerable journeys across country for the fun of linking up impossible connections." (chapter 2). Another reference is in an aside in The Riddle of the Sands (1903) by Erskine Childers : "... an extraordinary book, Bradshaw, turned to from habit, even when least wanted, as men fondle guns and rods in
7161-408: The times shown against each station or stop will be the departure time, except for the last stop of the service which will be the arrival time. The left hand column will list the stations in route order, and the other columns are arranged from left to right in chronological order. If the service is scheduled to wait, both arrival and departure times might be shown on consecutive rows. If a slow service
7254-484: The timetable's publication was suspended, the last prewar issue being that of August 1939. Publication resumed in 1946. Cook's chief competitor, Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide , also ceased publication in 1939, but did not resume after the war (A Bradshaw Guide covering just the United Kingdom survived until 1961). This improved the potential for significant increase in sales of the Cook's Timetable in
7347-595: The title was changed to Bradshaw's Railway Companion , and the price raised to one shilling . A new volume was issued at occasional intervals and from time to time a supplement kept this up to date. The original Bradshaw publications were published before the limited introduction of standardised Railway time in November 1840, and its subsequent development into standard time . The accompanying map of all lines in operation (and some "in progress") in England and Wales ,
7440-434: The week. There may be a separate list for each line/direction, or a combined chronological list (as in the picture). In parts of mainland Europe train departures are listed on a yellow poster, and arrivals on a white poster. These posters are placed at entrances to stations and on platforms. Dynamic electronic displays in stations may be at a central place and list the next few departures for each line, or all departures in
7533-517: The world outside Europe, with each area being included only twice per year, six months apart. A Japanese edition of the European Timetable was introduced in 1985, published twice a year (named the Spring and Summer editions) and printed by a different company, under a licensing agreement with Thomas Cook Publishing. The frequency later increased to quarterly but then reverted to bi-annually. The tables of train times were essentially unmodified, but
7626-561: The world. The official timetable book, published twice a year. Published twice a year by China Railway Publishing, in Chinese . The former timetable includes all trains, the latter fast express trains only. Published irregularly (last January 2015) by Duncan Peattie, in English. It includes all trains shown in the Chinese Railway Passenger Train Timetable, but not all stations. Published once
7719-587: Was November 2016. Thomas Cook itself would eventually go bankrupt, on 23 September 2019. The Timetable was unaffected, having been independent of Thomas Cook since 2014, and continues to be published. In autumn 2021, in response to a widespread drop in travel during the COVID-19 pandemic , which in turn put a strain on ERT's financial situation, the company reduced the number of print editions per year from six to four (one per season), but with digital editions continuing to be published monthly. Users and buyers of
7812-408: Was a series of railway timetables and travel guide books published by W.J. Adams and later Henry Blacklock, both of London . They are named after founder George Bradshaw , who produced his first timetable in October 1839. Although Bradshaw died in 1853, the range of titles bearing his name (and commonly referred to by that alone) continued to expand for the remainder of the 19th and early part of
7905-441: Was added, designated Table 10, and this table was changed to a EuroCity table when ECs replaced most of the then-remaining TEE services at the start of the railways' summer timetable period on 31 May 1987. The February through May editions include a section, at the back of the issue, giving planned schedules for the forthcoming summer timetable period on main international routes, for the benefit of persons doing advance planning of
7998-624: Was adopted by Cook's Timetable in December 1919. It was the first timetable book in Britain to adopt this practice. Although railway timetables have always been its predominant content, the Cook's Timetable included a substantial amount of other information during the first decades of the 20th century. The August 1939 edition, for example, devoted 48 of its 520 pages to general travel information, and regularly scheduled passenger shipping routes took 130 pages. In later decades, content other than railway timetables has continued to be included, but on
8091-417: Was announced that publication would resume, independent of Thomas Cook Group, in February 2014 as a result of agreements that had been reached allowing the formation of a new company for that purpose, European Rail Timetable Limited. The new company was owned by John Potter, who had been a member of the former editorial staff. The new version did not include Thomas Cook in its title. The first issue compiled by
8184-467: Was introduced, local times for London, Birmingham , Bristol and Manchester could differ by as much as 16 to 20 minutes; in India and North America these differences could be 60 minutes or more. The European Rail Timetable , a compendium of the schedules of major European railway services, has been in publication since 1873 (appearing monthly since 1883). Originally, and for most of its history, it
8277-407: Was limited to only about 30 pages (out of about 400-plus pages) until 1954 and then omitted entirely until 1970. June 2011 marked the 1500th edition. Although minor changes to the publication's title have been made over the years, every version included "Continental", rather than "European", from 1873 through 1987 — except for a brief period (1977–1980) when the coverage was expanded to worldwide and
8370-478: Was moved into the European Timetable in 2011. A timetable can be produced dynamically, on request, for a particular journey on a particular day around a particular time (see journey planner , below), or in a timetable that gives an overview of all services in a particular category and is valid for a specified period. The latter could take the form of a book, leaflet, billboard, or a (set of) computer file(s), and makes it much easier to find out, for example, whether
8463-416: Was published by Thomas Cook & Son and included Thomas Cook or Cook's in its title. Although Thomas Cook Group plc ceased publication in 2013, the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable was revived by a new company in early 2014 as simply the European Rail Timetable . From 1981 to 2010, Cook also produced a similar bi-monthly Overseas volume covering the rest of the world, and some of that content
8556-454: Was published for 30 years, but ceased publication at the end of 2010. Starting in the early 1990s, quarterly editions of the European Timetable have also been published, sub-titled the "Independent Traveller's Editions" and containing 32 additional pages of travel information. The frequency of these was later reduced to twice per year, for the summer and winter periods only. These editions are intended mainly for sale at book shops and each one
8649-518: Was quarterly until the beginning of 1883, and monthly thereafter. Except for a break during World War II , publication has continued to be monthly ever since 1883. The Timetable has only had six editors-in-chief in its history. John Bredall was followed in 1914 by C. H. Davies. Later editors were H. V. Francis (1946–52), John H. Price (1952–85, then Managing Editor until 1988), Brendan H. Fox (1985–2013), and John Potter (since 2014). So as to remain sufficiently compact that it can be easily carried by
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