Going to Town - 1985 SkyTrain project documentary 

It is so weird to see Terminal Ave without the SkyTrain running down it

Love the bold optimism on display here. You don't see this kind of ambition much any more in BC.

It's amazing to see how clean the tracks used to be!

It even SOUNDS the same still... Wow!

Yes, I can't believe they didn't do the Canada Line first, prior to the Millenium Line...but both are here now, with the Evergreen Line not far off. I love how rapid transit is taken seriously here - I just hope they get cracking on better expansion, for the sake of Surrey and Langley.

It still screeches less than the Canada Line. When it was new it seemed as though we were riding through the sky on clouds. Or maybe it was just the excitement of finally such a thing in our city. For the first time I really felt like Vancouver was becoming a great big happening city. Or maybe I was just young and idealistic. Maybe a little of both. I still have unbridled idealism for our great city. And a ride on the Expo line still feels like being on a cloud, rattles and all :)

Excellent film. Great shots of places that have really changed.

this video makes me appreciate the skytrain a little more

Sometimes I love it when I catch an old expo skytrain even though it's not quite as comfy as the new grey ones. Just because it's vintage.

I wish I was alive during this time.

Awesome film! I wasn't alive when the Expo Line was built so this was especially interesting to see. It's weird seeing a Vancouver before the Skytrain was around too!

The iconic sound of the Mk. I SkyTrain. Feels good to live in the Greater Vancouver area.

Vancouver seemed so much more efficient and promising back then.

Great video! The 80s aesthetic makes everything seem more optimistic.

Cool nostalgia. I ride the expo line to and from work. Too bad they did not have an underground walkway between expo line and Canada line at the waterfront.

I helped build the Vancouver, Toronto, and Detroit trains back in the early 80 in Kingston and then worked in Vancouver in the late 80 on the trains I loved Vancouver it is a beautiful city .been back in Kingston since1990 , work for City of Kingston public works dept. now

I couldn't help notice "ITT SEL Canada" on the SelTrac SMC screens. This was the first phase of the system's install, the VCC Vehicle Control Computers (three for the lines) were all General Instrument 800 computers and OS/2 for the workstations, except for the SCADA workstation you see initially when the CO operator turns on propulsion power to the one vehicle with that pen. It's gone from that first-gen system made in germany partly by ITT Standard Electric Lorenz, to a newer system when Alcatel bought the technology, still based on OS/2 but with color graphics (SelNet as they called it). Now, nearly 30 years later, we're still using the same inductive loop moving block control system. But now it's Windows-based SMC software (NetTrac MT), IBM rack i286 PC servers for the VCC, and newer Thales onboard vehicles computers with newer Unix-based (VxWorks) operating systems as pose to the old ITT 1650 processors used on the original Mk1 VOBCs. The operators have the same command line as the original system, but the simplicity and convenience of point-and-click where needed. It's really quite amazing.

Happy 30th birthday Skytrain!!!

I would like to see old photos of places where the Skytrain station are now, but before they were built. I remember the Joyce and Edmonds busloops. I remember using them.

I love the Sky Train! Lovin the jazz music at the end of the video too :)

And they're expanding even more in 2016. Great 80s footage. We used to ride the Skytrains frequently as a kid in the mid-late 90s before getting a car, whether going to Metrotown or catching a Grizzlies game at GM Place, etc. Then I went again in '05 once on a field trip in high school. As an adult, I've ridden the Skytrains fairly often again for the past 5 years since 2011. It's oddly nostalgic.

The last 5 minutes are pretty damn Epic.. we need more saxophone performances at burrard place

I love docs about our transit system. It's amazing how much the landscape has changed. I almost didn't recognize some areas without the trains running through. As much I wish I had been around during the construction, I have to say I have quiet enjoyed growing up with trains already running. I doubt I would have ever been to go to the PNE as a kid if the train hadn't been built.

The Vancouver SkyTrain, utilizing the Urban Transportation Development Corporation's Intermediate Capacity Transit System Advanced Light Rapid Transit technology. Designed and built at the Millhaven plant in Kingston, Ontario. Also used here in Toronto-Scarborough for the Scarborough RT, the Downtown People Mover in Detroit, the Air Train in NYC as well as in Kuala Lumpur, Malasya. Hamilton, Ontario was also supposed to get a SkyTrain, but it was rejected at a council vote in 1981, along with another commuter rail version of the ALRT train technology that would have tied together the entire Greater Toronto Area, known as GO ALRT, but sadly that plan was scrapped after Bill Davis resigned. The ICTS train is one of those few examples of a provincial government delving into designing and producing urban rail transportation technology, from those heady days of the early 1970s when it seemed the future had arrived, and then Metro Toronto was to be tied together by magnetically levitated and magnetically propelled ICTS ALRT trains. That plan fell through and was changed from magnetic levitation to having the trains running on conventional rail tracks while still being propelled by the linear induction motor. The signalling was computer controlled moving block with the systems utilizing the Seltrac automated train signalling system supplied by Alcatel. Very high tech stuff for it's time, it started off with much ambition. The only problem though as has happened here in Toronto is that snow and ice can get on the reaction rail and prevent the trains from working properly. So now the Scarborough RT's day's are numbered, as it will be replaced by possibly a north eastern extension of the Danforth Subway line, although there is at least one mayoral candidate for this year's Toronto mayoral election who wants to restore the originally planned Light Rail Transit line that was originally proposed. Only time will tell what shall be handed to the people of Scarborough. Thanks for sharing the video. : )

Who were the musicians in the band?

9:11 I've never seen a Skytrain with so much free room.

Our city sure has grown!

Ya, It be great to expand the train to Langley in white rock!

That's the classic bc transit symbol.

No advertisements on the wall of skytrain stations back then, wow.

I love this nostalgia! ❤

worked in Vancouver at the time, and the driving commute was a pain, and in New Westminster long waits along stewartson way was the norm.

Man it looked like hell on earth back then It so much better now that were a global city with traffic jams and drug addicts everywhere

WOW ! What incredible "VISION" the Leaders of Vancouver had in the 1980's. ! The SKYTRAIN is as modern today as when it was built. Kudo's to the Engineers and Builders. The Suspension Bridge is unbelievable ! It really is the Little Train that Could Fly !

This is a snapshot of a pivotal time for the region. Amazing.

Brings a tear to me eye!

I was there! My family moved to Vancouver in 83. I remember expo 86!

i swear they do screech a little on the tigher curves or at least the non-refurbished ones tend to wait and the skytrain yard used to be a gravel pit?

I miss those days!

they still use those cars from 1985 LOL

Is the soundtrack available for download? It's pretty sick and has a very Vancouvery feel.

This woodent have happened unless expo 86 was hosted in Vancouver plus the theme was trasnportation so thank you Bc Transit.

This is so nostalgic, Vancouver my city 🙌🏽

I wish they expanded to Langley

We couldn't ride anywhere without The Skytrain!

Famous last words: "They will move through curves without screeching"

People used to dress so much more appropriately even when taking public transit.

Was a better city back then

I have a really strong inkling that this is a the old Railway tunnel underneath downtown that's now used for the Waterfront Area of the line (that first curve). However, I don't recognize any of the buildings at all. You won't be able to find this area today because it's built over by "The Province" Building.

6:10 "a run down industrial area" hahahaha...

There were actually train tracks from New West to Vancouver that paralaled the expo line, still active for freight when the line opened. You can see them in the video, but are gone now. Wonder why none of that right of way was used.

Actually the Skytrain connected gangs and drug dealers too. I remember when the gangs around Surrey Place Mall were isolated from ones on Granville Street. I know some gathered in a public washroom in the public park at 29th Avenue, on morning weekdays.

At 9:05 KARL LAGERFELD gets on the train!

You can clearly see what these people were most proud of and what they praised themselves most for 😝

The Bombardier trains on the Expo Line have steerable axles so they follow the turns in the track the same way a car's wheels turn into a curve. The Canada Line trains are conventional fixed axle sets so on sharper curves you get the inevitable flange screeching. Too bad really because except for the noise I enjoy the ride to YVR a lot, especially when I get a seat at the front!

1985 I was only 13 years old. Now I’m in my early 50. I wonder how many people here feel the same?

What is the song in the Beginning?

90 seconds apart ..ya if they are going opposite directions. Doesn't matter where you are if you miss your train you're waiting for 5 or 10 mins

Keep in mind Matthew Good was born in this city.

Good job worker and nice work

You should make this a DVD and a Blu-Ray and sell it on The TransLink Store at translinkstore.ca

at 20:14 you can even see where Roger's arena is now!

Very impressive

The first skytrains always sounded like a Formula One race car accelerating and decelerating.

When The Langley Extension is opened, Call it Frazer Extension (Expo Line)

4:44 the building that they're so proud of demolishing here probably had more character than whatever atrocity they have standing there now.

Well, the screechy trains are pretty old now. They've each logged millions of km over the last 25+ years.

Epic music is epic

Why does it feel like there was more people here

Guys in construction nowadays aren't this passionate about their jobs. Lotta mouthy slackers

Linear induction rules :)

move along the track without screeching eh? Those who take it now know that, that was a lie.

25:26 look at that turntable, is the idea to rotate just the front truck and swing the carriage around until the back was inline and then rotate it's truck?

6:31 is the 'gravel pit' the location of the skytrain terminal near Edmonds?

When construction began, the original van. trolleies were in their first years of service.

Ehhh! The McDonald's near science world was there back then!

I been on the Millennium line mark I train to VCC Clark built in December 1985 in Vancouver when I was nine

1:07 That's the lady who says "Next station: ...." on the Skytrain every day!

My favourite part of this is from 1:19 to 1:52 Also 7:06

Wow soooo Old!

ahh, the city

Nevermind! I'll get it!

This is well-produced government propaganda. Made me feel so optimistic and patriotic.

It’s BC transit , not translink

I Like That Expo Line Skytrain But My Favorite Skytrain Is Millennium Line Because It Very Good

hell yeah build those damn trains

Super high-tech @ 7:10

Funny to think it still runs on the same technology

If I was around at that time, I would have bought a house. Would not have to struggle like today

Aren't the mark I in the TTC in Toronto?

What Station did it Start With?

Does anyone know the name of the narrator? It's a familiar Vancouver radio voice and very reassuring!

what’s the song starting at 18:11

3:01 Tim Cook

They used the same cars as toronto's scarbrough RT!!!!

Battle your way on the ground in the sea in the sky and in space

12:49 - The Search For Spock!

Are the Skytrains still being run by those old ass computers today? I wonder..

vancouver looks a lot better today

The cute blonde at 5:20 is now approaching her 60's