Tour Report: Railway Tunnel T.

After our visit to the car sculpture park, we wanted to check out another location with my cousin Peter. We decided on a disused railway tunnel, as it wasn't too far away and we assumed it would be easy to reach.

First of all, it wasn't that easy to find a parking spot, because the path to the tunnel entrance, which was supposed to be “easy” to reach, is located in the middle of a residential area. So the walk was a bit longer than expected—and there was no direct path to the tunnel, so we had to walk quite a distance along the former railroad tracks.

This wouldn't normally have been a problem, but unfortunately the route had turned into a veritable jungle of nettles, some of which were as tall as a man. There was no beaten path or anything similar – we had to walk right through the middle of it.

At some point, I extended the legs of my tripod and swung them around in front of me to “clear” a path, so to speak. That worked quite well, so Peter grabbed a long, sturdy branch and swung it energetically to clear a path as well.

Soon we saw the tunnel entrance in the distance. We could see that the opening was sealed with large wooden panels—but there was a small opening in the form of a door.

We were excited that we would probably have the opportunity to explore the tunnel from the inside.

But no such luck—just a meter behind the wooden wall, a solid steel grate blocked the tunnel.

Since there was only a small door, there was no real source of light, and the light from our flashlights was lost in the darkness. Taking pictures from the inside was therefore completely pointless.

All that remained of this trip were the pictures from outside and the fond memories of our battle with an army of nettles.

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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: Rail Yard "Ivy"

After exploring the abandoned school, we still had some time to check out one more location before we had to head home. So we drove back to the nearby city, because from there it was more or less a straight shot home on the highway. Right next to the city's main train station are the remains of the local rail yard. In earlier times, almost every larger train station had its own rail yard to conduct repairs and be able to quickly allocate locomotives and train cars. That was of course in a time when centralization of services wasn't the way to go yet. Most of the smaller rail yards had been closed towards the end of the last century in favor of large central maintenance hubs.

This particular rail yard was closed in 1998, so at the time of our exploration, it had been abandoned for more than twenty years.

As we arrived, we found a good place to park in a side road. From there, we walked a few minutes to the fence on the back of the premises and quickly discovered an opening where we could squeeze through. Since the active station was right next to the rail yard, we had to be careful not to be spotted, but the vegetation provided a little bit of cover.

Probably because of the populated area, the condition of the place was pretty good in terms of vandalism. Of course, there were a few graffiti, but there has been far less trash dumped than in similar locations that I've visited. Additionally, there was some really nice green decay, so it was a good spot to finish off our tour.

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 "Green Desert"

In June 2019, we visited a good friend in the northeastern part of Germany, and on the second day of our weekend vacation, we went to explore a few abandoned locations.

Since the first location was only twenty minutes away, we took our time and had a nice long breakfast before leaving at around 11am.

The place was easy to find, and we quickly found a parking place that didn't kake us look suspicious. The problem was getting in. On the one sinde was an active railway area, and on the other sides were industrial buildings. There was a fence, and we hoped for an opening somewhere, but there was no way in.

We had to climb over the main gate. Of course, this was the least preferred, because most public, option, but we wanted to explore that place, so we had no choice.

Once on the premises, we didn't run into any problems and were able to take our time to explore all the remaining buildings of the old railway repair factory. It had been really dry the weeks before, but there was still beautiful green growth all over - outside of the buildings as well as inside. The old factory was in its final stages of decay. A lot of the roofs were already gone, others bravely fought against their collapse, and yet others already had collapsed, but were hanging by a thread, so to speak, to form a kind of tunnel for us to walk through.

What I found really interesting was the absence of trash. Usually, these old industrial areas are used by the locals to dump tons of trash, old furniture or unused construction materials. This was not the case here, most of the stuff lying around was just debris from the decaying buildings.

Although it was really hot (it was around noon, and it was a really sunny day), we thoroughly enjoyed our exploration of this place, and we took our time exploring every room that we could find. In the end, we climbed out undisturbed the same way we took to get in.

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

Tour Report: Railyard S.

After we finished our tour through the abandoned castle, we got on the way and drove towards the Harz Mountains where a very dear friend was expecting us for a nice barbecue on the campfire. It was still relatively early, and the weather was beautifully sunny, so we decided to make another stop at an abandoned railyard that wasn't really on the way, but a detour of about an hour was acceptable for us.

It took only about half an hour on the Autobahn, and we found a regular parking space right across the street from the abandoned railyard. To be honest, I had expected this place to be harder to get into, since it is located right next to an active railway area (and at the time of our visit, I hadn't seen any new photos for a while) - but it actually was really easy.

The fence had been removed on the backside of one of the engine houses, so that we could just walk onto the premises. Just as quickly, we found an open door and started taking photos.

At that point, we realized just how close we were to the active parts of the area, because railway workers were walking right past us with only the walls and wooden doors of the engine house between them and us.

From that point on, we tried not only to be quiet, but to be REALLY quiet!

From the first locomotive shed which was built mostly from bricks and wood, we moved West to the second engine house, which was a bit newer and built from reinforced concrete and steel, and covered with a wooden roof. The concrete structure allowed for larger windows and more light - and roll-up gates made from metal and glass that were almost completely transparent. Luckily, the workers had moved to a more remote location, so we weren't spotted - but it was still a bit exciting :)

Both engine houses had a unique character due to the different materials used and different lighting conditions. One had a warmer, more antique mood, whereas the other was colder and more modern, which I've tried to include in my editing of the photos.

Following the exploration of the locomotive sheds, we turned our attention to the administration buildings and smaller workshops. Of course, there had been a lot of vandalism, but there was also a fair share of nice decay for us to enjoy. The last building that we explored was especially enjoyable. The sun bathed the inside of the building in a yellow, autumnal light, emphasized by the yellow and blue paint on the walls - it was beautiful!

This place was well worth the detour - and we still were on time for our barbecue on top of the mountain :)

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