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.