Time-Traveling Time Lapse Takes the Same Train Ride in 1953, 1983 And 2013

Time lapses generally work one of two ways: they speed up time either while moving through long expanse of space (say, down the Colorado River) or while focusing, over a long period of time, on one spot (like Canada’s oil sands). But what if your time-lapse did both?

In 1953 the BBC filmed a time-lapse of the train trip from London to Brighton. Then, in 1983, says PetaPixel, they did it again. “And now, in 2013, it only seemed appropriate to continue the every-30-years tradition and capture the trip once again.”

Now you can see, side-by-side down the line, three 30-year intervals of time-lapse train travel in one four-minute clip. It’s a little bit mind-bending.

More from Smithsonian.com:

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London to Brighton Train Journey: 1953 - 2013

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Colin Schultz | | READ MORE

Colin Schultz is a freelance science writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada. He blogs for Smart News and contributes to the American Geophysical Union. He has a B.Sc. in physical science and philosophy, and a M.A. in journalism.