forums
new posts
donate
UER Store
events
location db
db map
search
members
faq
terms of service
privacy policy
register
login




UER Forum > Archived US: Great Lakes > Abandoned College Power Plant (Viewed 506 times)
chuckbarris 


Location: East Lansing, MI




Send Private Message | Send Email
Abandoned College Power Plant
< on 5/2/2007 3:59 AM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
Sorry for the novel, heh

For the past few months my crew and I have been familiarizing ourselves with the steam tunnel system at a large Michigan university. The tunnels are used to supply hot water and heat to the many buildings located around campus. As it turns out, most of the manhole covers that provide access to the tunnels are left unlocked and are light enough to be lifted up using just some wire. While the tunnels are easy enough to infiltrate, they're extremely uncomfortable and difficult to navigate. Asbestos, hot pipes, and temperatures around 120 degrees F make it difficult to stay in them for long. The tunnels wind across campus with little rhyme or reason, making it very easy to get lost. We've used the tunnel system to infiltrate several mechanical rooms in the buildings around campus, and from there we've explored the inside of the buildings after-hours.

The end goal of this operation was to find a way into the abandoned power plant located at the center of campus. It's been a campus landmark since its construction, but hasn't been used for power generation since the 60's, when a newer plant took over. The building is well secured, as a portion of it is still being used as an electrical substation. However, the vast majority of the building has been left to decay. Last week we found a tunnel that we believed would lead us into the building, but unfortunately the tunnel was flooded with water and we were forced to turn back.

This week we came back armed with tall rubber boots. In order to stay out of sight, we had to enter the tunnels at a location that required us to cross under another building. It was after midnight on the weekend when we made our attempt. After we entered the tunnel, we had to clamber over a set of high-pressure steam pipes using whatever we could find. We were careful not to disturb the pipes themselves- I've heard stories about what can happen when a pipe carrying superheated steam breaks loose. After climbing over the pipes, we found ourselves in a long tunnel leading under another building. We paused here to don the waders and cool off a little in the breeze coming through from the building. We then proceeded along the tunnel into the flooded section. The water had gone down some since we were there last, but it still went up past our ankles. We passed several sump-pumps which were submerged in pits along the way. It looked like most of them had rusted solid a long time ago. The tunnel turned several corners and we were again forced to climb over a set of pipes, but this time there was a set of ladders that made the task a lot easier.

We emerged into the basement of the power plant amidst a tangle of pipes. The basement was very well-lit, and we could look straight up several floors to the top of the active wing of the building. The abandoned portion of the structure was far more interesting. It's at least 60 feet tall with a pitched roof, and several furnace-boiler assemblies running the full height of the building. The basement was mostly just large hoppers where the coal ash would be collected, but there were several storerooms and a very old bathroom down there. There was also at least one room that was flooded over the height of my head, all I could see were stairs leading down under the water. The first and second floors had the furnaces themselves, along with more pigeon shit than I've ever seen in my life. It was several inches thick in places, and we kept disturbing the birds as we moved through the structure. The entire building was amazingly creepy, with ladders on the upper floors leading down into pits we couldn't see the bottom of. The catwalks on one of the upper levels had its floor grates removed, so we had to move carefully along the wall to get back on solid footing.

At the top of the building was a door leading out to the best part of the structure- the 250 ft. smokestack. A thin metal catwalk 50 ft up runs from a door in the side of the power building over to the smokestack, where a ladder then leads the rest of the way up. I pushed the door open and we made our way out onto the catwalk. We crept along the thin metal walkway over to the stack, where we waited for a good opportunity to climb. There are red aviation navigation lights at the top of the tower, so we theorized that the ladder must be in a safe condition in order for workers to go up and replace the bulbs. Still, we decided to go one at a time so as to avoid stress on the old ladder. I took a LONG time to climb the ladder, mostly due to nerves and the constant worry I was going to be spotted. When I'd reached the top, I peered over the edge into the top of the stack. A set of rungs ran down the inside as well. Just then, a startled pigeon took off from one of the rungs and flew right past my head. I've decided I don't like pigeons anymore. At the top of the stack several large metal rings run all the way round, and they have rungs welded to them to allow workers to get all the way around the stack. I stood on one of them as one of the others climbed up. We got scared we'd been spotted when a cop pulled into the lot beneath us, but he just did some donuts, jumped a curb, and drove off. My friend took a couple of pictures from up top, but unfortunately they're very blurry as we didn't have a tripod (or anywhere to put it, for that matter). After all of us had been up to the top of the stack, we left the same way we came in, exhausted, but incredibly pumped about what we'd just done.

We've got some crappy pictures of the expedition coming soon...


ExploringOhio 


Location: Hamilton, Ohio
Gender: Male




Send Private Message | Send Email | AIM Message | The Myspace
Re: Abandoned College Power Plant
<Reply # 1 on 5/2/2007 10:47 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
now that sounds like a damn fun night! makes me wish I had something like that closer to home here!

Founder of SOPER: Southwest Ohio Paranormal Exploration and Research
"It was a good drift," mused Erik, "but certainly not a great one!"
R.I.P. Ninj. . .we'll see in in the big transit tunnel in the sky! R.I.P. My little Chipmunk Ali Baker 11/25/2005
silvernail 


Location: michigan
Gender: Male


MY DOG IN ALL HIS GLORY

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: Abandoned College Power Plant
<Reply # 2 on 5/3/2007 8:09 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
It isn't MSU is it?

Fett 


Location: Columbia, Missouri
Gender: Male




Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: Abandoned College Power Plant
<Reply # 3 on 5/4/2007 4:19 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Sounds like a pretty awsome tunnel system. I wish our power-plant was abandoned, but it has people running around in it 24/7.

640 K [of computer memory] ought be enough for anybody. -- Bill Gates (1981)
Curious_George 


Location: Cambridge
Gender: Male


Straight outta New Bedlam

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: Abandoned College Power Plant
<Reply # 4 on 5/4/2007 6:37 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Well, since your located in East Lansing it kind of makes it obvious that you are talking about MSU ;)

Spartans suck!

silvernail 


Location: michigan
Gender: Male


MY DOG IN ALL HIS GLORY

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: Abandoned College Power Plant
<Reply # 5 on 5/5/2007 3:10 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Curious_George
Well, since your located in East Lansing it kind of makes it obvious that you are talking about MSU ;)

Spartans suck!


what do you mean spartans suck? They had a great year in football. waint a minute, ya they do suck.

chuckbarris 


Location: East Lansing, MI




Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: Abandoned College Power Plant
<Reply # 6 on 5/5/2007 7:12 PM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
I found some disturbing news the other day- the last time the light bulbs were changed on the tower was in 2002, when they were replaced with long-life LED bulbs. Two different tower maintenance companies refused to use the ladder on the side of the stack do to safety concerns- they actually brought in the largest crane the one company owned to do the work.

Anyhow, these pictures were all taken with a junky digital camera, no tripod, and out of flash range, so don't be too harsh. They're more to show where we actually went.

http://www.flickr....hotos/8133881@N03/

Glass 


Location: Chicago


as one does

Send Private Message | Send Email | Substreet
Re: Abandoned College Power Plant
<Reply # 7 on 5/5/2007 7:36 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Cool.

CaptOrbit 


Location: Sarasota, FL or Cincinnati, OH
Gender: Male


There you are, right back in the jungle again.

Send Private Message | Send Email | This is what you get for asking questions.
Re: Abandoned College Power Plant
<Reply # 8 on 5/6/2007 12:29 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Well done! It sounds like you had a good night out. Welcome to UER.

The personal responsibility train left the station years ago, and you gave it the finger as you watched it leave.
mos6502 


Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Gender: Male


8 bits are enough.

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: Abandoned College Power Plant
<Reply # 9 on 5/7/2007 6:16 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
That was a lot of fun to read, thanks for posting in such detail

UER Forum > Archived US: Great Lakes > Abandoned College Power Plant (Viewed 506 times)



All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire.
To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site: UER CONTACT
View Terms of Service | View Privacy Policy | Server colocation provided by Beanfield
This page was generated for you in 78 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 737005249 pages have been generated.