Topic: The Abandoned Thread

[mick750F]

  Dang! That sounds like a mystery inside a parable inside a story being protected by...big money connections. If big money is interested then you have to wonder...

Mike

[seanbarney41]

Awsome pic, ever been inside?

The closest I got was to climb a rusty staircase, that I feared was going to fall at any second, and peer into the opening in the front of the building. That was 17 years ago, and it was scary then..

There were at least 2 other smelters near there that were dynamited back in the '50s; why they left this one standing is a mystery. Perhaps it was new enough then that there was a chance of firing it back up?

The gray on the ground in the fore-ground of the pic is a thick layer of ash, that covers acres, containing high levels of arsenic and lead. This is now an EPA Super-fund site. A few years ago, the current property owner claimed that vibrations from heavy equipment might cause the structure to collapse, so efforts so far have been to stabilize the soil and prevent the winds from spreading the contaminates further.   

I grew up using superfund sites as indoor skateboard parks.  Seriously, rip those polluted peices of plywood off the walls and make yourself a pcb ramp...

[Alan F.]

Here's a pic of the other side from the web, guess that rusty staircase didn't last...

[Alan F.]

More perspective

[Hush]

Looking at those poor abandoned bikes, rusted and now useless I have to say: Please have those Images removed as inappropriate.

[ofreen]

Looking at those poor abandoned bikes, rusted and now useless I have to say: Please have those Images removed as inappropriate.

The pictures of all those wasted bikes and parts does bother me more than the pix of those dead guys on Everest did.  I guess because the climbers died doing something they chose (and loved) to do, while all those poor bikes were in those desperate straits through no fault of their own. 

[Alan F.]

The word that stuck in my mind was 'disturbing' especially the rusted out bikes in that basement area...it must have flooded a hundred times with those bikes down there.

I'll start the healing with some pics from the web of a pinball machine warehouse.












The story is found here http://www.flippers.be/warehouse_find.html

[Trav-i]

The Motorcycle Graveyard

71 Gooding Street, Lockport, NY 14094


This was the leftover stock of Walter Kohl who owned a BSA and Yamaha dealership in Lockport, NY.  He took many bikes in on trade and often left them outside in the back of his dealership during the 1960s and 1970s.  I actually went to his storefront in 1994 because he was listed in the yellow pages as a British Bike Shop and I wanted to buy a Triumph Bonneville.  I called and he said to come on down.  I rode my 1976 CB750 to his shop and entered.  I found the place packed with motorcycles, mostly Jap bikes from the 1970s.  An old man (Walter Kohl) was sitting on a stool with no shirt on surrounded by bikes and parts.  A younger man came out from the back when he heard me talking and told me they were no longer in business.  They were very surprised that anyone had shown up and they wanted me out.  The old man must have answered the phone and thought it was 1975 or something.  Anyways I had always wondered what happened to the bikes and parts that were in that storefront.  I found out this September when some photos showed up online.  They were moved into an old warehouse in Lockport and sold sometime in the late 1990s.  The building fell apart and the new owner couldn't pay to have it fixed.  It sat essentially abandoned for years.












I had planned to head up there this coming summer with a video camera to document the whole thing but I guess the place has been cleaned out this November and all the bikes have been sold.  There is someone on ebay (itsa60) who is selling stuff that he says came from this place.  The building is still there and I may head up their anyway to see what is left.

These guys actually got in touch with the current owner this past fall and bought a bunch of stuff from this place before it was sold off in buckets.

http://dcclassiccycles.dynamitedave.com/graveyard.html

More pics from the person that originally posted this place on the web in 2008.

http://newboards.tusclan.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=301

Scott

Wish I would have known about that place when I still lived up there.  It's a shame what happened to all those bikes.   

[Alan F.]

More healing...

This dealership was unearthed last year...

"Theres quite alot of brand new, never registered cars there, mainly Fiats.

The owner went from being a Fiat car dealer to an Iveco commercial dealer & just left all the new, used & part exchanged cars where they were!

The owner then died & the son inherited the 200 or so cars last year (2008)

A dream situation!

He has been selling most of them, but the new unregistered cars cant be registered in Denmark (where the dealer is) due to them not meeting current emmissions etc regulations so will either be exported or go into private collections."

http://www.fiatforum.com/lets-talk-fiat/200433-has-anyone-seen-not-your-average-fiat-dealership.html#post2148915

[Hush]

OK gotta keep this thread running as it's my favourite on the SOHC4 site.
Here is a photo that covers all bases, a SOHC4 (Blondie) something abandoned (the old road/rail bridge) and a bridge (not sure why we have to have one but seems the norm here)
Blondie is doing double duty while I take the photo as traffic slows when they see her parked up.
This is the old Westshore rail/road bridge, rail still uses it but cars have long been diverted to a new bypass culvert, I still have fond memories of this are as there was a 2 mile long sweeping curve before the bridge and we always tried to hit the ton before the bridge on our bikes in the 70's.
Sorry I can't get any closer but it is closed to traffic.
3rd photo is just a gratuitous shot of the Napier hill and the abandoned hospital, but what a great day for a ride.

[seanbarney41]

wow...abandoned stuff in N.Z. looks nicer than the nice stuff here in Kalamazoo, Michigan...this is my favorite thread also...

[Hush]

I guess Scunny could put the whole of Christchurch on here but that would be cheating.

[Old75_ratafe]

Aww come on Hush you got the cop bike out you could have gone up there and claimed it was offical business   And yea sean I agree I should go down and get some pics of the old ford or packard plants.

[seanbarney41]

Aww come on Hush you got the cop bike out you could have gone up there and claimed it was offical business   And yea sean I agree I should go down and get some pics of the old ford or packard plants.

yes please

[Old75_ratafe]

I had to say something about the old Packard plant didn't I... Found this on my yahoo page this morning.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localdtw/20110328/ts_yblog_localdtw/crumbling-detroit-packard-plant-becomes-hallowed-ground-for-many

[seanbarney41]

awsome link, Old 75

[Old75_ratafe]

Thanks guess I don't need to go take pics its definitely been done.  Funny thing is I didn't even search for that vid it just popped up when I checked my mail in the random news bits.

[Hush]

Awesome footage, man what a place.

[seanbarney41]

ummm Old 75...I'd say we need a video of your bike rippin' through the yard there...

[GrandRapids750K3]

Very awesome link... Thats probably less then three hours on the freeway for me, and my inlaws live out there, so I may need to make the trip...

[Anti-Johnny]

I think yall would get a kick out of this site,

http://urbanexplorers.net/explorations/

I dont know if its been linked yet.

I thought about getting into it when I lived in El Paso, but its a bit dangerous with the aliens and drugs.

Most of the abandoned stuff here in Central Texas has been destroyed in the last ten years because we're booming.

There is a lot of stuff in the midwest and north east.

Ill be in Vienna for a month this summer so hopefully I can find something exciting there.

[Hush]

That's weird, there is no "reply" button on the last page so you cannot go to page 1 and comment or add anything?

[ofreen]

That's weird, there is no "reply" button on the last page so you cannot go to page 1 and comment or add anything?

You have to scroll over to the right to see the reply button.

[vames]

When I lived in the Bay Area, I used to always be fascinated by the ghost ships floating off of Benicia when I was driving by. I don't know anything about them, but they are really weird just floating out there. I always wanted to venture out there in a rowboat in the middle of the night to explore, but yeah...right....who am I kidding. Not my photos, but these are fantastic.....

[Hush]

Yeah I saw a doco on them years ago, aren't they old "Liberty" ships made as military transports but no longer required and awaiting the scrap yard?