Tour Report: Railyard SP

In September 2019, I set off with my buddy "Lost Places in Schleswig-Holstein und Umland" to explore a few abandoned places in north-eastern Germany.

The first place we went to - a former railroad depot - I had already looked at from the outside with my wife, but hadn't found an entrance back then. This time, however, there was an opening!

But first things first: The old depot is located more or less directly in the city center between the active railroad tracks and a busy main road. Part of it has been converted into a museum, and the surrounding areas have been developed with residential and commercial buildings.

A short distance away in the residential area, we found an unsuspicious parking lot from where we began our exploration.

Unfortunately, there was no guaranteed way of getting into the engine shed without being seen, so once again we adopted the "cheek wins out" approach.

On the side facing the road, we finally found a narrow entrance through which we were able to squeeze in. We just hoped that no one had seen us doing our contortions.

Unfortunately, the site was actually so well secured that we could only see the roundhouse. Decay had done a great job - collapsed roofs and collapsed walls dominated the picture. My buddy managed to climb into another area (he's quite a bit taller than me), but even there he was met with a similar sight.

Unlike many other locations in the region, there was no garbage. Apparently the security measures had meant that local residents were unable to illegally dispose of their garbage on the site.

So we were able to enjoy the warm late summer day in peace and quiet with a great light atmosphere.

After about an hour, we made our way to the next location.

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: The Halls of Carpets

In September 2019, we embarked on a short tour to explore a location not far from our hometown. I knew that the old abandoned carpet factory existed a few years before, but we had never made our way there. I had only seen a few photos up until then, but these had whetted our appetite for an architectural treat.

The drive took about two hours.

The factory buildings are nestled between a residential area, various industrial areas and a tennis club. When we arrived, we first went for a walk to look for possible entrances. We didn't really find anything that gave us easy access. But we didn't give up that easily.

We took the "hard" way in.

There was a house right next to the road near the main entrance to the factory premises. It looked abandoned, so we took a look around. The doors and windows were completely locked, but the garden wall was right next to the gatehouse. Unfortunately, the wall was too high for us to get over. We looked around the garden of the house and discovered an old ladder under a pile of leaves.

This enabled us to get over the wall. There was a small embankment on the other side, so we didn't need a ladder to climb down. 

So now we were on the site and only had to walk about 400 meters along a clearly visible path until we reached the first building and were out of sight.

As soon as we entered, we saw what awaited us - huge, empty factory halls with some very impressive architecture. The halls were so big that even the graffiti didn't really matter - they just disappeared into the vast rooms.

After we had explored about a third of the site, we discovered a former laboratory in a small building. While we were taking our photos there, a black van suddenly drove onto the site and stopped in front of a building near the laboratory.

We hid and heard someone getting out. We waited for about fifteen minutes, but no one seemed to have noticed us. As the site is huge and the buildings provided good cover, we decided to continue our exploration despite the risk.

So we saved the building in front of which the car had parked and looked at other factory buildings.

I was particularly impressed by the halls with the curved roofs, some of which looked like aircraft hangars and were flooded with daylight due to their construction.

At some point, the black car disappeared from the site again so that we could inspect the last building.

I don't remember how long we were on the site, but it was a few hours and I think it was really worth it.

We left the site the same way we had entered it and hid the ladder under the pile of leaves again.

We met the black van and the driver less than a year later when we visited the old factory again - but that story will be for next time!

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: Railway Repair Factory "Fields of Green"

This abandoned former railway repair workshop was the last location we visited during our summer vacation in 2019.

As we still had a few kilometers to go by car, we started relatively early and made our way to the old industrial ruin.

The site is located directly on a busy road with plenty of parking spaces, so we quickly found a parking space and were able to look around for an entrance. We found it very quickly, as the main gate was open. There were no prohibition signs or anything like that, so we were able to stroll into the grounds without a care in the world.

First we took a look at the remaining outdoor facilities, then we set about exploring the factory halls.

Unfortunately, a photographer and his model were also passing the time in the factory halls, so that we were not completely undisturbed and had to interrupt our walk again and again to wait for the photographer to get the picture in the box. What often annoys me about this kind of thing is that "model photographers" expect you to wait until they are finished with their pictures - but they themselves don't seem to be able to do this and march right through the middle of the picture without any ifs or buts and start setting up their stuff.

Well, you're above it all and can overlook other people's character flaws without letting them spoil your mood.

In any case, we took all the time we needed to really take a close look at every factory hall. We particularly liked the vegetation inside the halls. Most of the rooms were decorated with varying degrees of vegetation - sometimes just bushes and ferns, but sometimes also real trees. We are always amazed at how nature reclaims the old industrial halls!

After a good two hours, we had finished our exploration and made our way to a dear friend's house where we were going to spend the last night of our vacation.

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: The Hearse in the Factory

On the way back from Walter's House, we took the opportunity to check out a place that we'd been wanting to see for a long time. Well, it wasn't so much the place we wanted to see, but what was waiting for us inside. Behind the unassuming walls of the old factory building is an object that has defied the ravages of time for many years. Behind an iron gate and thick concrete walls, the old hearse only gets a visit from photographers every now and then.

But one after the other.

We knew where the carriage was - fortunately, because we would never have suspected it to be in the old factory building by ourselves. 

The building is located on a busy street near other businesses, so we had to find a more distant parking space and walk the rest of the way.

On the premises, we managed to avoid the passing factory traffic, so after a short time we were standing in front of the entrance. We squeezed through the gap in the door and stood directly in front of the object of desire!

The room was "dark as a bear's ass", as they say in our country, only through two higher windows some light fell. To take reasonable pictures under these conditions is not so easy, as I had to realize, but in the end I managed.

After we had photographed the hearse from all possible perspectives, we took a look at the factory building next door. There wasn't much to see there - except a small carpet of moss and grass.

Afterwards we made our way back to the hotel and were happy about another successful tour!

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.