OM the Rails 🇵🇸
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omtherails.bsky.social
OM the Rails 🇵🇸
@omtherails.bsky.social
UK based rail traveller & enthusiast. 00 gauge modeller. #TMRGUK. Views my own. When I'm not travelling on trains, you'll find me making videos about them 👇

https://youtube.com/@omtherails
Hopefully the fares will be cheaper than what Nightjet offered as well, great news!
BREAKING: European Sleeper will start a Paris-Berlin sleeper train from 26 March 2026, after Nightjet pulls out in December.
It'll run via Brussels (with Eurostar connection from London) 3 times a week. This + existing train = Brussels-Berlin 6 times a week. www.europeansleeper.eu/paris
November 12, 2025 at 12:08 PM
NEW VIDEO! A look at Ceske Drahy’s brand new ComfortJet from Prague to Berlin!

Link: youtube.com/watch?v=xHMH...
November 10, 2025 at 5:01 PM
With the UP Express suspended due to GO Transit engineering works, my trip ends with a Rail Replacement Bus to the airport for my flight home 🥲

Canada it’s been an absolute pleasure, I look forward to coming back some day 🇨🇦❤️
November 8, 2025 at 10:08 PM
📍 Oshawa

Enjoying my last rides with Via and GO Transit this morning with a return ride to and from Toronto 🇨🇦
November 8, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The comings and goings of Toronto Union Station… 🇨🇦
November 7, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Been a fun day out to Niagara Falls, but I best be getting back to Toronto now - instead of having to wait hours for the direct GO train or take a bus, I opted to use the Amtrak/Via Rail “Maple Leaf” for its Canadian leg. My Via Preference Points came in handy here, covering the entire fare 😎
November 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
📍 Niagara Falls, ON

The town centre is as far as I can go by train - getting to the falls themselves requires manning up and transferring onto a local bus, but doing so certainly didn’t disappoint… 😍🇨🇦
November 6, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Morning!

Today I’m taking my first ride with GO Transit which is on the “Express” limited stop service to Niagara Falls, a journey of around 2ish hours. 6 return services run on weekdays, upped to 8 on weekends in addition to Amtrak/Via’s “Maple Leaf”. Let’s go! 🇨🇦
November 6, 2025 at 2:25 PM
📍 Toronto Union Station

4 min late arrival, which wraps up my time with Via Rail - can’t say many aspects of their boarding and alighting practices have made filming these journeys easy, but we got there in the end 😁

I have 3 more days in Toronto, mostly for resting and others for tourist stuff… 🇨🇦
November 5, 2025 at 6:28 PM
A short and sweet stay in London (🇨🇦) as I’m heading back to Toronto on board Via’s LRC coaches. Certain routes out of Windsor and Montreal to Toronto are the last ones these coaches are doing as they, like the HEP2s, are progressively replaced by the new Venture sets. Let’s go!
November 5, 2025 at 3:53 PM
📍 London, ON

Ended up getting a personal safety demonstration on this trip (presumably as I’m a foreigner), not to mention Via staff decided to close the platform halfway through me recording the train’s departure (despite knowing what I was doing)…

This is Via Rail Canada, not Via Air Canada 🙃
November 5, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Morning!

Off to London (🇨🇦) this morning, which partially covers some of the remaining sections of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor I have left to clear. The outbound is on a Venture, but the inbound will be something different…
November 5, 2025 at 11:36 AM
📍 Toronto Union Station

11 minutes late in the end thanks to waiting for a platform to clear, but all in all a great trip with Via Rail - these trains really are a step up to the existing Corridor fleet and by far a better Venture model than the US ones (so far at least).

Off to check in & rest 🇨🇦
November 4, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Remember how I said yesterday I wasn’t filming the Venture from Ottawa? That’s because the sets have now taken over all bar a handful of services on Via’s “Corridor” trains - consequently, my originally-booked LRC to Toronto got swapped for a Venture, so I’ll have 5.5 hours of fun on this. Let’s go!
November 4, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Bonjour!

I’m leaving Quebec for good this time, so I’m making use of the Via Rail Lounge here in Montreal before my journey south 🇨🇦
November 4, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Sadly a lot of Exo’s fleet are the same Bombardier multi-level cars also used by NJ Transit - great from a comfort perspective, but sadly the same dirty window issue is also present… 🥴
November 3, 2025 at 7:26 PM
📍 Montreal Gare Centrale

Arrival on time into Montreal - as much as I’m giving Via Rail a lot of stick for their airline practices, the staff and onboard service so far have been absolutely brilliant and this journey was no exception!

Whilst I wait, I’m off for a ride on Exo 🇨🇦
November 3, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Via Rail’s honestly a joke of an operation… another safety briefing done on the exit row and even overheard one passenger say they had to remove a certain amount of weight from their luggage just to board. Are they trying to be an airline? 😂
Morning from Ottawa 🇨🇦

I’m heading back to Montreal this morning on board one of Via Rail’s brand new Siemens Venture sets - I was originally going to be filming this one for the channel, but something in my itinerary changed which means I’ll just be enjoying the ride with this one… 😁
November 3, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Morning from Ottawa 🇨🇦

I’m heading back to Montreal this morning on board one of Via Rail’s brand new Siemens Venture sets - I was originally going to be filming this one for the channel, but something in my itinerary changed which means I’ll just be enjoying the ride with this one… 😁
November 3, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Today I’ve been trying out the Ottawa O-Train, a series of light rail and commuter lines around the greater Ottawa area. My main focus has been on Lines 2 & 4, where extensions opened at the beginning of the year using some rather familiar trains… 🇨🇦
November 2, 2025 at 7:40 PM
That thing looks so cursed 😭
Well this move now makes sense. 196008 is off to Wolverton for relivery into Chiltern Railways Colours 🧐

Have to say I'm not a fan of the Chiltern Livery on these 😅

*Not My Image* Credit Unknown

#DOTS #trainphotography #railwayphotography #class196 #chilternrailways
November 2, 2025 at 1:34 AM
📍 Ottawa, ON

A great trip with Via Rail on these vintage carriages, have to say though Via Rail is too “airline” style for my taste, even going as far as to doing a safety demonstration for the emergency exit row… 😳

Also saw “Lumi”, the first Venture set of Via Rail’s I’ve properly photographed 📸
November 1, 2025 at 6:33 PM
All HEP2 carriages in this consist have been heavily refurbished (with the exception of the very front “Economy” coach). Looking at the interior, you really wouldn’t be able to guess that these trains are almost 80 years old, Via Rail did a good job with their refurbishment 🇨🇦
November 1, 2025 at 5:23 PM
This morning I’m taking Via Rail Train #35 to Ottawa, formed of a P42 locomotive hauling stainless steel HEP2 cars which were built between 1947 and 1955. Crazy to think in 2025 it’s still possible to ride mainline trains dating back to just after WW2! 🇨🇦
November 1, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Bonjour from Gare Centrale Montreal!

I’m taking my first of many rides along Via Rail’s Quebec City-Windsor “Corridor” today, but before then I’m making use of the Business Lounge to kill some time 🇨🇦
November 1, 2025 at 3:39 PM