LIVERPOOL, UK: Waterloo Warehouses in 1960s and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

Transport Time Travel

By Rebecca Drew

NOSTALGIC images of transport through the ages have revealed a stark contrast between the past and modern day as they have been expertly merged together.

Mann Island, 1890s. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
Mann Island, 1890s. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

From a 1910s ferry passing the modern iron man sculptures on Waterloo shore, to a group of Victorian men and women waiting at Pier Head for a ferry these pictures document how the transport industry has changed in Liverpool and the UK.

Waterloo Shore in the 1910s and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
Waterloo Shore in the 1910s and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

Pier Head, 1890 and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
Pier Head, 1890 and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

Other photographs in the collection show a horse and carriage waiting at traffic lights on Townsend Lane, a sixties steam train emerging from the Waterloo Warehouses and an old-fashioned car parked on a residential street. Another picture captures a group of air hostesses chatting on the runway outside Speke airport.

A 1913 horse and carriage waits at traffic lights on Townsend Lane, Anfield today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
A 1913 horse and carriage waits at traffic lights on Townsend Lane, Anfield today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

Queens Drive, Knotty Ash in the 1900s and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
Queens Drive, Knotty Ash in the 1900s and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

Speke Airport, 1960s. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
Speke Airport, 1960s. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

The incredible images are the work of Port Captain, Keith Jones (45) from Liverpool. To create his pictures Keith merges old postcards and photographs with his own shots of the same locations in the modern day.

Derby Square, 1953. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
Derby Square, 1953. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

“Where I can, I try to catch as many elements that are specifically of 2016 to accentuate that jarring yet harmonious image,” said Keith.

“Victorians hanging out with millennials is the sort thing I try to portray where possible.

Liverpool Lime Street Station in the 1970s. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
Liverpool Lime Street Station in the 1970s. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

“When I’ve worked out the location of the original photo, I go there and try, as precisely as I am able, to retake the shot from the exact same spot and angle.

“The more accurately I can ‘rephotograph’ the scene, the easier it is later to merge the two photos from the different eras.”

Red Lion Bridge, 1939. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
Red Lion Bridge, 1939. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

Keith explains that his passion for merging the old and new does not come without its risks.

“Almost getting run over is an occupational hazard sometimes,” he said.

East Prescott Road in 1955 and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
East Prescott Road in 1955 and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

“Where a Victorian or Edwardian photographer may have once stood on a single lane track to take a photo with only horse drawn traffic to avoid, to recreate it precisely in modern times might entail me standing on a busy three or four lane road.

“Timing is everything.”

For more information see: www.facebook.com/LiverpoolThenAndNow

Market Street, Hoylake from the 1930s and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com
Market Street, Hoylake from the 1930s and today. Keith Jones / mediadrumworld.com

Click to licence image.