A YouTube video that takes viewers on a ride along the original Skytrain line built in 1985 side by side with the modern one is a former Vancouver resident’s tribute to the service that will be celebrating 28 years in business this year.
John Ball says he decided to make the video because he has always been fascinated by trains, Skytrain in particular.
“So why not do it on a piece of equipment that went from a glimmer in someone’s eye before the world’s fair to what it is now – holding up near the top of one of the longest automated driverless trains in the world. It sounds really cool, it looks really cool. It’s just a shame that it isn’t used elsewhere,” says Ball.
Ball says the original archive footage used in the video came from another YouTube user – who recorded it from BCTV in 1985. After Ball got the permission to use the historic footage, he spent a day on one of the Expo Line trains, shooting the modern day perspective.
The video starts at the Waterfront Station and ends at the New Westminster station and goes along the original Expo line route, revealing considerable change in the communities along the route.
“A lot has changed,” says Ball. “You can see it all right there when you press ‘pause’.”
See the video below:
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