Timeline

1873 to present day


Key editions of the timetables are listed below. Numbers in the first column indicate the edition number (not shown on timetables until 1500th edition). The new publisher, European Rail Timetable Ltd, shows edition numbers but reverted to 1 for its first edition in March 2014 and this is reflected in the list below.

The timetable has had a number of changes to its title over the years - see the Title Changes page.


Thomas Cook Continental/European Timetable
0001   March 1873 - First issue, distributed free
0002   June 1873 - First regular issue (quarterly)
0040   December 1882 - Last quarterly issue
0041   January 1883 - First monthly issue
0484   December 1919 - 24 hour clock introduced
0720   August 1939 - Last issue before World War II
0720   August 1939 - Last issue with air services
0721   July 1946 - First postwar issue - staff only
0722   August 1946 - Staff only editions (Aug, Sept, Oct)
0725   November 1946 - First regular postwar issue
1003   January 1970 - Timetables for Great Britain added
1041   March 1973 - Centenary edition with silver cover
1087   January 1977 - Enlarged to show principal services outside Europe
1127   May 1980 - Cut down edition (144 pages) due to printing strike
1135   January 1981 - Non-European content moved to new Overseas Timetable
1183   January 1985 - First issue with a Japanese edition
1268   February 1992 - First edition to use desktop publishing (dtp)
1288   October 1993 - First edition produced completely by dtp
1295   May 1994 - Channel Tunnel souvenir edition
1341   March 1998 - 125th Anniversary edition (special feature)
1380   June 2001 - First issue with an edition for German Railways
1423   January 2005 - 20th Anniversary of Japanese edition
1461   March 2008 - 135th Anniversary (special page)
1480   October 2009 - New-look blue cover in line with Thomas Cook guidebooks
1500   June 2011 - 1500th edition with special colour cover
1500   June 2011 - Sample Beyond Europe pages included in partial replacement for Overseas Timetable
1502   August 2011 - New Beyond Europe sections added (six sections each appearing twice yearly)
1521   March 2013 - 140th Anniversary (special edition)
1526   August 2013 - Final Thomas Cook edition


Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable
001   November 1980 - Pilot edition, distributed free
002   January 1981 - First regular edition (every two months)
152   January 2006 - 25th Anniversary edition
175   November 2009 - New-look cover in line with TC guidebooks
181   November 2010 - Final edition


European Rail Timetable Ltd
001   March 2014 - First edition published by ERT Ltd
027   May 2016 - First digital edition
028   June 2016 - June/Summer editions combined into a single edition
032   October 2016 - Last edition before printed edition moves to every two months
033   November 2016 - First digital-only edition
034   December 2016 - December/Winter editions combined into a single edition
088   December 2021 - Printed editions now Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn
103   Spring 2023 - 150th Anniversary edition


The timetable was referred to as the CTT for much of its life, due to "Time Table" originally being two words. The introduction of the word "European" meant this changed to ETT (rather than the more accurate ET), but the new publisher quite rightly uses the abbreviation ERT. As might be expected, the Overseas Timetable was known as the OTT.