Deserted Places

Monday, July 10, 2017

Inside an abandoned train yard in Budpest

The abandoned Istvántelek Train Yard occupies a vast area of land outside Budapest. Also known as the Red Star Train Graveyard, it is the resting place of more than 100 train cars and locomotives that have been abandoned in various states of disrepair.

The train yard was built in the early 20th century and today only a small part of it is used while the rest remains abandoned. Two large depots, a few smaller sheds and open-air areas are scattered with train engines and carriages, some newer and some from many decades ago.

Among them, many German rail cars that could be among those that carried hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews to their death in Auschwitz during Nazi occupation in World War II. The Red Star Train Graveyard comes from a few Hungarian MAV 424 steam engines that bear a red star on their fronts. Also in the yard, many Soviet train cars brought to be repaired before being exhibited in the Budapest Railway Museum but never made it to the display and were instead abandoned there.

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Monday, March 20, 2017

The abandoned Buffalo Central Terminal

Buffalo Central Terminal opened on June 22, 1929 with a grand celebration attended by 2,200 invited guests. The new train station of Buffalo, New York had been built by New York Central Railroad to replace the several other train stations that served the city.

Designed by architects Fellheimer & Wagner in art deco style and build in Buffalo's Broadway/Fillmore district, the station had been considered too huge even from its early days. The 17-story building consists of several structures some of which are connected, while others were formerly interconnected. The main concourse is 225 feet (69 m) long, 66 feet (21 m) wide, and 58.5 feet (17.8 m) tall. t (21 m) wide, and 58.5 feet (17.8 m) tall. The concourse included various rental spaces, a restaurant with a dining room, lunch room, and coffee shop, a Western Union telegraph office; and a soda fountain, along with standard station necessities. The train concourse is 450 feet (140 m) long and includes 14 high-level platforms.

Although at first Buffalo Central Terminal served 200 trains daily, the Great Depression which began shortly after the terminal opened, as well as the rise in use of automobile, hurt passenger levels. World War II brought an increase in traffic but the decline continued after the war. In 1966, some secondary buildings of the terminal were demolished due to the decrease of passenger revenues. Amtrak tried to add new routes in the late 1970's but soon services moved to the smaller Buffalo–Exchange Street station as the Central Terminal was too expensive for the financially strapped passenger carrier. The last train departed the terminal at 4:10 am on October 28, 1979.

On the same year the building was sold for $75,000 to a local builder with plans to convert it into a 150-room hotel named Central Terminal Plaza but he could not find investors for the project. He finally only created an apartment for himself and lived there until 1986 when he declared bankruptcy. Following that, the terminal changed numerous owners and fell into disrepair. Vandals destroyed whatever could not be stolen as the building wasn't guarded. A volunteer organization bought the terminal in 1997 for $1 and the assumption of approximately $70,000 in back taxes. Since then it has hosted multiple fundraisers and has been able to restore some small parts of the terminal.

Luke Spencer/atlasobscura.com

SEE ALSO: More abandoned railway stations around the world // More abandoned places in the state of New York // More abandoned places in the United States // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES
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Thursday, March 16, 2017

An abandoned Soviet turbojet train

During the 1960's, Americans, followed by the Soviets, experimented with turbojet trains. The idea was that, like a jet aircraft, the train is propelled by the jet thrust of the engines, rather than by its wheels. Turbojet engines were built with the engine incorporated into a railcar combining both propulsion and passenger accommodation. As turbojet engines were most efficient at high speeds, they were applied to high-speed passenger services, rather than freight.

The Soviets built their own turbojet train, known as SVL (High-speed Laboratory Railcar), in 1970. With a mass of 54.4 tonnes (including 7.4 tonnes of fuel) and a length of 28 metres (92 ft), it was able to reach a speed of 250 kilometres per hour (160 mph), although there were plans for it to reach 360 km/hour (224 mph).

Despite its high speed, the model was considered inefficient due to the very high fuel consumption of the jet engines which made it very expensive to run. Today, the test train still exists in a dilapidated and unmaintained state.

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Thursday, November 17, 2016

The abandoned 'Orient Express' train in Belgium

Left abandoned in a railway yard somewhere in Belgium, these old trains are rusting away. The national railway company of Belgium placed them there until a railway museum is built. In 2012, some trains had to be moved as the city was going to built a new parking site.

The only train that was left behind was an old type 620 train. Those trains were once the pride of Belgium railways, but today this is the only one left. The train went viral online when an urban explorer called in an 'Orient Express' train. Orient Express was the name of a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 and linking Paris to Istanbul. From 1977 to 2009, when Orient Express service ceased operations, the train was linking Paris to Vienna. The Orient Express trains never passed through Belgium

The abandoned train in Belgium might not be an Orient Express train but it is an impressive reminder of a past era.

FFUrbex Fotografie/flickr.com

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Thursday, October 20, 2016

The remains of Crystal Palace train station in London

Crystal Palace High Level railway station opened in 1865 to serve visitors of the giant glass structure of the 'Crystal Palace' which was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill in the London Borough of Southwark in south London in 1851.

The station, was one of the two serving the new Crystal Palace (the other being the Crystal Palace Low Level station, which is still open), and the terminus of the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway. It was designed by Edward Middleton Barry as a lavish red brick and buff terra cotta building. The station was excavated into the ridge below Crystal Palace Parade requiring major engineering works.

Traffic on the whole branch declined from 1936 after Crystal Palace was completely destroyed by fire. During World War II the line was damaged by bombs but reopened a few years later. However, the need for further reconstruction work and the fall of passenger numbers led to the decision to close the station and branch on 20 September 1954.

Crystal Palace station was demolished in 1961 and in the 1970's the site was developed for housing. However, a fan-vaulted underground pedestrian passage in finely detailed red and cream brickwork still survives and it is now a Grade II listed building.

There are different urban legends surrounding the closure of Crystal Palace station surviving to this day in the area. Some claim that an engine or carriage remains hidden inside an abandoned tunnel collecting dust, while others believe the station was closed because a commuter train was trapped by a tunnel collapse, entombing the passengers, who remain trapped there to this day.

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Monday, September 26, 2016

The abandoned Rochester Subway of New York

Rochester Subway operated in the city of Rochester, New York from 1927 to 1956. Its history dates back to 1918 when the Erie canal was re-routed to bypass downtown Rochester. The empty section of the canal was used as the core of the subway. The train lines were built inside the canal while the subway's roof was turned into Broad street. However, of the approximately 7 miles (11.2 km) of the subway's length, only 2 miles (3.2 km) were underground.

In 1927 Rochester Subway operations began under contract with New York State Railways. The line was also used by interurban railways with Rochester and Eastern Rapid Railway, Rochester and Syracuse Railroad, and Rochester, Lockport and Buffalo Railroad running trains.

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, New York State Railways fell into bankruptcy and from 1938 the subway was operated by the newly formed Rochester Transit Corporation. To cut costs, the company reduced weekday service and in 1952 Sunday service was eliminated. In 1955 Rochester's city council decided to end all subway service on June 30, 1956. Following the end of passenger service, the biggest part of the subway bed was filled in and used for the construction of interstate 490 and interstate 590. Freight trains kept running on the underground part of the subway until 1996.

Rochester city officials have decided several times to fill the remaining abandoned part of subway, however those plans were controversial. Others have suggested to built a new subway system using the same tunnel or an underground walkaway. And some others would prefer to see the abandoned tunnel filled with water, by re-rerouting Erie canal to its original path.

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Monday, May 2, 2016

The abandoned Canfranc International Railway Station

Canfranc International Railway Station opened in 1928 in the village of Canfranc in the Spanish Pyrenees. It was the point of entry to Spain for the Pau–Canfranc railway, joining France to Spain and passing through the Somport railway tunnel under the Pyrenees. King Alfonso XIII of Spain and the president of the French Republic Gaston Doumergue were both present on the station's inauguration.

The huge station, featuring a 240 metres (790 ft) long Art Nouveau building, with 300 windows and 156 doors was essential as passengers, together with luggage and cargo travelling from Spain to France and vice versa had to change trains because of the different rail gauge used in the 2 countries (standard gauge in France vs Iberian gauge in Spain). During World War II, the station became associated with the Nazis during the war, as they used it to transport gold out of France, and tungsten the opposite way.

The station closed in 1970 when a train derailment demolished a bridge on the French side of the mountains. The French decided not to rebuilt the bridge and the cross-border line was closed. Today the station is still in operation for domestic trains, with 2 daily passenger trains to and from Zaragoza-Delicias railway station. However, more modest station facilities are used with the main building remaining abandoned since 1970.

Thierry Llansades/slate.com

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Monday, February 15, 2016

Michigan Central Station: The most iconic abandoned building of Detroit

The abandoned Michigan Central Station is one of Detroit's most iconic buildings. Just like the Motor City, the station has its own story of rise and decline.

Michigan Central Station opened on January 4, 1914. It was designed by the architects of New York City's Grand Central Terminal in a Beaux-Arts Classical style. Michigan Central Railroad owned and operated what was then the tallest railway station building in the world. It was a time when no one could foresee the growing trend towards increased automobile use, which explains the large size of the station. And indeed, in the first years of operation more than 200 trains left the station each day and lines would stretch from the boarding gates to the main entrance. Among notable passengers arriving at MCS were Presidents Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt, actor Charlie Chaplin and inventor Thomas Edison.

During World War II the station was used heavily by military troops. After the war though, the decline in railway travel began as more and more people would use cars for vacation or other travel. Service to the station was cut back and several unsuccessful attempts to sell the building were made in the 1950's and 1960's. By then, the station's restaurant and several shops were closed, as was the biggest part of the waiting room, and only 2 ticket windows would serve passengers.

When Amtrak took over the station in 1971 there were attempts to restore MCS to its old glory. The main waiting room and and entrance were reopened and a $1.25 million renovation project started in 1978. Six years later though the building was sold to a transportation company which decided to shut it down. The last Amtrak train departed from Michigan Central Station on January 6, 1988, 74 years and 2 days after the station opened.

During the last 3 decades there has been a lot of discussion about the station's future. Many potential uses have been proposed, among them the redevelopment of the station into a trade processing center, a convention center and casino, or Detroit Police headquarters. In 2009 Detroit City Council asked for the demolition of MCS even though the station has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Starting in 2009 works to renovate the station have started by the building's owners. Among them, the removal of asbestos, internal demolition work, removal of water, broken glass and other debris, electricity restoration, and installation of a freight elevator. In 2015, works for the installation of more than 1,000 windows in the building's exterior began. However, there is still no set plan for a future use of the station.

Meanwhile, Michigan Central Station has been featured in films such as Transformers, The Island, Naqoyqatsi and Four Brothers as well as Eminem's music videos. Photographers and urban explorers have been visiting the station for years, making it an iconic example of ruins photography.