It was a sunny day and everyone else in my house had succumbed to the heat and was napping. I decided to use the afternoon to check out the American Laundry Machine Co buildings that I had been scouting for the previous week. The site is surrounded on 2 sides by housing, one side has a supermarket strip (3 visible exterior cameras) and the other has some old warehouse type buildings with a railroad line running along the property. Earlier in the week I had decided that my best chance of getting in without being spotted would be to follow the railroad tracks up and along side the complex and see if there were any holes left in the perimeter. As I approached the complex I saw that I had lucked out and a train was parked along the tracks that separated ALMC and the supermarket, a perfect blind. I also found out that I was right about the access along the tracks.

After dodging under some trees I found myself looking at 3 steel tower supports, I was in. A few more steps brought me to some sort of dry storage tower. I took some pics of it and then attempted to climb the support next to it. After getting about half way up I figured out that my backpack and I would not fit in the tight space, stupid physics.

I continued around the back of the building hoping to find a way in. Around a couple of corners I had found it, an old doorway that had been boarded up, but the board was pried loose and askew. As I approached the entry I found a Mark 14 targeting “computer”** and a small periscope. I removed my flashlight from my pack, holstered my camera and squeezed through the crack in the door. To my surprise I did not find a vast, empty room. I was confronted with a wall of crates filled with more military parts. To my left and right were piles and piles of the parts. I looked at all of it and took some pics, that didn't turn out. I wanted to climb over the wall of crates, but didn't want to take the risk of it falling since I was alone. So after some delay I figured there would be another way in and went back out. On my way I snapped a pic of the old door switch. Back up onto the tracks and around other corner brought me along side the building and the further I got the more I realized that there had been a major fire in the building or the adjacent building to the one I was trying to enter.

Just a few steps more brought me to two coal towers. Doors were open at the base of each tower and so I jumped down to the base of the towers and renewed my hope for entry. The doors only opened onto mechanical rooms and since I didn't feel like exposing my lungs to coal dust I didn't go in. But a short walk between the two towers brought me to an open fence and a fallen stairway. Looking up at where the stairs had gone I saw that someone had cut them off with a torch. Someone really doesn't want me in that building (Guess what is my primary target next time!).

To the left of the stairs I found an open door that opened onto what appeared to be the maintenance room for the power plant. Littered about the floor was old parts that had been left by previous scavengers Along the walls were 3 metal storage cabinets. There was a workbench with tons of stuff on it. On the wall hung a blueprint, I can only assume that it was a diagram for the massive power unit that made up the far wall of the room. Unfortunately it was half covered by one of the storage lockers. A small hallway brought me behind the large power unit and as I turned the corner I was greeted by a large room with tons of light flooding in. The reverse of the power unit wall was covered by large levers and gages, think Frankenstein. In the middle of the room, covered by bird excrement, were 3 large machines that had rods that went through the floor and into the sub floors. A narrow stairway went down, but there was standing water down there and I didn't bring anything to get wet in so that too will need to wait for next time. Across the room was a smaller room, labeled office, with papers scattered everywhere. Two things I documented were an old catalog and an old blueprint. Back across the room I got my first scare, the flooring shifted, causing my heart to jump. Nothing big, it turns out that the flooring in this room is just large metal plates and I had walked across a place where they had warped.

So with my heart rate at double time I waked through a large door and into the next, larger room. Three pigeons exploded from above the door, again I jumped, only this time it was worse. As I stood there, regaining my composure, I started to hear voices, I'm pretty sure I heard either TV or radio. I stopped and listened more. There was defiantly a regular noise, I decided I had done enough for one day and backtracked out the maintenance area of the power room. Outside the door there was a manhole cover, not sure what that would lead to but I may pull it next time and take a peek. I found an exit closer to where I had parked and decided to leave that way. Outside of the building I spotted this thermometer that would have been for the people in the large room to check the temperature.

On my way out one more door called my name, inside I found two brick furnaces. I'm not sure what these were used for and it looked like the metal doors had melted. I couldn't get any further into this building and so I left. I took a couple of pics of the tower and walked back to where I had parked. All in all I think that it was a good experience.

** After I got home I looked up the Mark 14. This was a device that was used by the allies in WW2 on Anti-Aircraft Guns. The machine would calculate the speed that the gun was rotating and adjust the aim to compensate for the lead time. All the operator would have to to is put the aircraft in it's sights. Something like 40-50% of all aircraft shot down in WW2 was by the gun that had this targeting.