Influential books follow-up: Thomas Cook European Timetable in the present tense.

For today's column I added the Thomas Cook European Timetable to the listing of the (now) 32 books that have influenced me the most.

With a copy of the timetable in hand and a Eurailpass in pocket, it felt like just about anything was possible. Cracking the code of symbols and supplementary notes was a rite of passage. It cannot ever be the same asking a smart phone or Alexa to plan the journey rather than poring over the minutiae with train station cafe beer in hand.

As of this precise moment, European Rail Timetable is the publisher of the former Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable, resuming the print publication of the book in March of 2014 after a brief interruption when Thomas Cook Publishing stopped doing so in 2013.

These days there are monthly digital editions and bimonthly print editions. Wikipedia has the whole story; here's coverage of the guide's return in 2014.

The InterRail bible returns: European Rail Timetable is back in print, by Will Coldwell (The Guardian)

Six months after being closed by its publishers Thomas Cook, former employees of the European Rail Timetable have brought the definitive, 140-year-old train guide back into print

Running close to 600 pages and listing around 50,000 trains, the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable was long considered the InterRailer's bible until it was discontinued in August 2013.

Now, thanks to the persistence of John Potter, one of its original staff members, the timetable has been relaunched as an independent guide after Thomas Cook agreed to hand over the rights to the publication.

The March edition of the timetable went back on sale last Tuesday and, in a testament to how much the timetable was missed by rail fans and travellers – it sold out just four days later.

For Potter, the response has been overwhelming: "We've had thousands of emails saying, 'We're so glad you're back!' One guy joked he had been taken off suicide watch, while another woman wrote in to say her husband was much happier now he had his monthly fix. Some people didn't even realise it had been stopped. I could write a book out of all the comments."

Five years later, it comes as absolutely no surprise to learn that the UK's privatized rail companies, which are facing unprecedented criticism for poor performance -- have pulled out of the Interrail and Eurail schemes.

“Either this shows the true Little Englander nature of the Tories, or how out of touch the rail companies are with the people. Or both. Either way it’s not good enough."

Maybe this too will revert. Diana's British, you know.

On June 3, 1987, from Sofia to Belgrade (and Budapest) by rail.

Previously: Sightseeing in Sofia with the ghost of Leonid Brezhnev.

On this day in 1987, I took no photos. June 3 was a travel day, and it turned out to involve a great deal more mileage than I expected at the beginning.

Pictured above is a page from the July 1992 edition of the Thomas Cook European Timetable. It's the oldest copy of those timetables still in my possession, but the schedule probably was little changed from 1987.

For those who planned on traveling by train, the Thomas Cook was a worthwhile investment. I spent hours poring over the schedules, and much later, wrote a short appreciation.

The blessed return of a personal Bible.

If my recall is to be trusted, by midday on June 2 I'd decided that while there was much of potential interest in Bulgaria, it would have to wait for next time (which unfortunately still has not arrived).

I wanted to give Belgrade (Yugoslavia) another chance, and move in the general direction of Hungary.

The ticket counter at Sofia's central station issued me a second class ticket without seat reservations, good for the 417-kilometer, seven-hour trip. The price was about $12.

Let's hope I packed sandwiches.

One memory stands out. We stopped at a station somewhere in Bulgaria, and on the adjoining track was a local train going in the opposite direction. It had a 3rd class car, seldom seen outside the East Bloc, filled with crude wooden benches without a stitch of upholstery.

It might have been 1937.

The train arrived in Belgrade before 4:00 p.m., and I was determined to improve on the muddled bearings of my previous brief visit. This time I knew where the youth hostel was located, quickly found the right tram to take me there, and arrived at the address only to find the building in the process of being demolished, a decision ostensibly made since the publication date of my guidebook.

Once again, absolutely no elderly women were waiting at the station with offers of cheap rooms. Unable to avoid hotel prices beyond my budget, and stubborn to the last, it was back to the ticket window, this time for an overnight train from Belgrade to Budapest (another 375 kilometers sleeping in a seat), then prior to departure, across the street to one of the neighborhood greasy spoons for an evening meal.

On Thursday morning, I was in Budapest. The following three weeks were spent in Hungary, and while the country may have been a socialist nightmare for its inhabitants, it proved to be budget traveler's dream playground.

Next: 30 years ago today ... experiencing Sopron, Hungary.

The blessed return of a personal Bible.

I concede to a pleasing fit of nostalgia: A bag filled with mostly dirty clothes, salami and bread carved with a Swiss Army Knife, my Eurailpass, and the Thomas Cook timetable. Later, I fell in love with the bicycle as mode of European transport. But trains ... ahh.

In 2010, a Guardian editorial praised the continued existence of the Thomas Cook timetable, which finally fell to modern times ... but now is resurrected. Long live the European Rail Timetable (photo credit, Eurocheapo).

European Rail Timetable: Relaunching an essential train publication, at Eurocheapo

The decision last summer of the global travel business Thomas Cook to discontinue publication of its celebrated European Rail Timetable after 140 years was a mighty blow to rail travelers across Europe. However web-wise and connected a traveler may be, there is simply no substitute for a good printed timetable in revealing the overall pattern of rail services on any particular route. Whether for initial travel planning, or for evaluating options and amending itineraries while away, the European Rail Timetable was always worth its weight in gold.

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.

Thomas Cook timetables live!

I concede to a fit of nostalgia: A bag filled with dirty clothes, salami and bread, Eurailpass, and the Thomas Cook timetable. Later, I fell in love with the bicycle as mode of European transport. But trains ... ahh.

In praise of ... Thomas Cook timetables Guardian Editorial

You don't have to be an obsessive to find a sort of romance in their pages - and happily they now record a growing rail service ...