Could someone please post the www for the part of the SNCF website where I can investigate schedules and prices. I have spent at least 30 minutes futzing around with the general website - trying to keep from being sent to RailEurope - and I am still not able to run what should be a simple scheulde check. I can navigate in French if I need to but obviously not enough to find the part of the website that I want!

www.voyages-sncf.com

Enter your info on the Left under "Réservez votre voyage"

See

http://www.seat61.com/France-trains....yages-sncf.com

I don't think a lot of webpages have specific URLs you can get, including SNCF, as they are dynamic. Meaning you can only get to them through the front URL, and saving them doesn't help. I don't know what you are doing, but just go to the general website (see above) and then click the "train" tab, obviously. (voyages-sncf sells a lot of things, not just train trips).

There are choices on the train tab just like a lot of websites, reservations is one of them (reservez votre billet) and schedules is another (consultez les horaires) Choose what you want and follow direction to fill out other boxes to get the info you want. On reservations, for example, there is a big box with blanks in it right there on the front page to the left and it says "reservez votre billet de train". It has boxes to fill out for departure place and arrival place, dates, etc. YOu have to fill out the info regarding class and ages, etc. It gives you prices and times. I don't think the schedule gives you any prices, but I haven't used it in a while.

If you choose the section for the horaires, a very big box is on the page saying "rechercher un horaire" and you fill in the boxes as you want for places and dates. there isn't as much to fill out as prices aren't involved, of course (eg, no class or ages, etc.).

Here is the URl for the horaires, but as I said, I am not sure it will work for you to go right to it, but you can try.
http://www.voyages-sncf.com/billet-t...les%20horaires

hmmm it seems to work by saving it

If you are checking train schedules too far ahead in the future, you may not be able to pull up schedules as they may not be loaded into the system yet. If that's the case, just pick a date within the next 3 months.

Do your 'shopping' at the German site, much more user-friendly. Then armor up for your purchasing effort at Voyages-sncf.com
Try choosing your country as Great Britain in order to do the booking in English.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?

I don't know about the UK and other European countries but purchasing tickets saying you are from the US will be more expensive than purchasing in French. The www.seat61.com site gives you all the info you need to purchase in French from the www.voyages-sncf.com site. If you speak French, don't worry. If you don't use seat61. Doing it in French gives you a lot more train time options AND a lot more less expensive fares. Plus, you can print the ticket off at home and take it with you. I can't remember if we bought PREM tickets or 2nd class but I understand the PREM ticket fees and times are available 3 months in advance of the date you want to travel. GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN>