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Infiltration Forums > Journal Index > ... > Gas Works by Day(Viewed 1514 times)
Gas Works by Day
entry by xrahy 
6/24/2004 3:00 PM

Sunday AM:

Woke up reasonably early, made coffee, smoked cigarettes and gathered some gear. The weather was amazing, 61 degrees and no humidity, absolutely clear blue skies. It was almost chilly, a refreshing change from the last few weeks. We got in my car and headed towards downtown on the expressway. Stopped by the CAM-CAM and acquired some rations (Gatorade and snack-crackers) and headed for the Gasworks.

We slowly cruised around the place a couple of times looking for a suitable place to leave the car and walk-in without being obvious. After a few minutes we picked a spot, parked, and hiked up the road and then slipped into the brush under the elevated train tracks. We hiked along under the trestle admiring the graffiti at each concrete support and eventually reached a creek. More of a concrete drainage ditch, probably 30 feet wide and 10 feet deep, luckily the water was only 8" deep and my boots are 9" tall. After clawing our way up the other side of the ditch we stood before a fence topped in barbed wire and breathed in the smell of fuel contaminated soil. It smelled like the ground would catch on fire if you dropped a match, in fact as we skirted the fence looking for an access point, we noticed that there were several patches of burnt soil and debris. We found a spot where the earth had washed away over the years leaving a gap under the chainlink. Crawling under the fence, with my face a few inches away from the dirt, I really started wondering what the soil was contaminated with, other than fuel. PCB’s maybe?, or some other carcinogenic substance? Oh well never mind, we were now on the other side of the fence and faced with crossing better than a hundred yards of open field in full view of passing traffic in broad daylight. Ah, but the UE gods were smiling on us, because just that moment a train crossing by blocked all traffic and gave us a perfect shield. We sprinted across the field, "crossing the beach at Normandy" as Thirsty called it, and entered the first building through an open and overgrown door.

The rooms in the first building were appropriately abandoned with all manner of debris, leftover equipment, soggy Playboy magazines, peeling paint, and of course the ubiquitous filthy, out of place, toilets. My favorites were the mini-bike project someone had abandoned long ago (a bored city worker?) and the “Shockguard” helmet smashed on the ground. The whole lower level had that same fuel smell, some rooms were almost overpowering. Upstairs, the air quality was better; maybe because the adequate ventilation provided by the holes in the roof. The rooms were large, mostly empty, and contained more peeling paint and a few artifacts. We took pictures and headed down a different set of stairs to the outside.

Peeking in the next building through an open window, I started to get excited. Old industrial machinery is my favorite and there appeared to be lots of it. We found an open door and immediately stood in awe of the crazy, oversized, and intriguing machinery. Cameras were in full use from this point on, lots of photogenic stuff. There was a new-ish backhoe parked in this area, so it is still used for storage or something every once in a while. There were a couple of weird salt like formations on the ground and a little graffiti, but mostly big bright rooms full of machinery.

After taking lots of pictures and checking every nook and cranny, we decided to hit the last major building. Now this building sits no more than 10 feet away from a busy road and is built on piers, leaving us fully exposed to the passing traffic, making me a little nervous at first. But, we decided to just walk on up, act like we belonged there. In this building were two of the largest boilers I have ever seen, lots of pigeon poop and quite a few dead birds, (which I didn’t notice until THD pointed them out). The boilers were two stories tall, painted a deep charcoal gray/black and most of the piping was painted red. The building is surrounded by tall glass obscured windows, full of bullet holes, letting in lots of light. We climbed all around the catwalks, trying not to disturb the asbestos or the dusty bird shit. Lots of pictures later we were satisfied and headed back out the way we came.

THD and Thirsty went off to check on some smaller buildings while I took some more pictures in and around the second building. And then it was back across the field, under/over the fence, through the creek, the briars, and the downed trees and back to the car. I am always so happy to see my car still where I left it…and my keys still in my pocket.

Next stop…a big abandoned warehouse with a lovely overgrown courtyard……



[last edit 6/24/2004 3:21 PM by xrahy - edited 1 times]
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