Look at your ticket. Wg is the car number, PL the seat number.

When I bought a ticket on line this information was on the printed ticket.

It must be on your ticket. There is the train connection with departure and arrival times, and under "Reservierung" it has the details.
You may want to have a look at my tips on train travel over on Virtualtourist. Here is the one about seat reservations: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/1dbd83/

>Will they assign a seat # later, or do I need to "swipe" our online printable ticket somewhere in the train station to get our seat assignments?
Nope.

WOW! Thanks for the quick response, adrienne. I see that information on my ticket:

2 Sitzplätze, Wg.31, Pl. 51 52, 2 Fenster, Tisch, Nichtraucher, Ruhebereich

Can anyone translate the underlined for me?

Robyn

EXCELLENT web site, quokka. Thanks for the link and information.

With your help I have figured out that I have 2 window seats, with a table, no smoking.... and Google translate is telling me that Ruhebereich is "rest area". Not sure what that means.

Robyn

Fenster = window
Tisch = table
Nichtraucher = no smoking
Ruhebereich = quiet area (no cell phone calls, no music and keep reasonably quiet and silent)

Thank you, thank you, asps, for the translation. I'm glad to know that we will be in a quiet area.

And quokka... I poked around some of your travelogs on Virtual Tourist and was so excited to see that you visited Eppingen!!! I can trace my mom's side of the family back to the early 1600's from Eppingen, and I visited this beautiful preserved town in 2007, and am planning a return visit this April. It truly is one of the most beautiful old timber towns that I have seen so far. The fachtwerk display in the park is excellent for explaining the different building styles. I loved all your pictures and descriptions, and have taken notes on things to see while there. I am surprised that this little German gem of a town has remained so unknown.

Robyn

Thank you for visiting my VT pages! Yes, Eppingen is a little gem. There are many of those unknown little places that the authors of the first guidebooks missed, so they never made it on the average tourist's schedule. (Maybe we should keep that quiet, as not to ruin its charms? LOL)
So you'll be in my area in April - I live in Karlsruhe.

At Cologne station they have indications of where the carriages stop, so you can be standing in the right place for your carriage, not standing at the wrong end of the platform!

If you are travelling 1st class they come round with drinks too!