Blog Ditched....

It received no views as far as im aware, showing people prefer the main website. As such there will be no further updates to the blog, bye.

London Undergound

For a while now Mr Loops has ridden to work most days for weeks. Each time passing a small insignificant door flapping in the wind, never knowing what was behind it. Well one day his nuts just dropped like a tonne of concrete, he plucked the courage and ventured forth, stepping out into a untold narnia of the underground.

To his dismay there was no silky sheets of white snow covering the ground. No mystical birds flying in the air, and most of all no Mr tumness to show him the way. Instead he was greeted by the humid waft of fumes and the fragrant smell of oil. To me and you however this magical land has a more common name. The London Underground.

The LU has been one of those places where every explorer holds their own opinion. "No chance", "Only way is with a tour" and most common of all "Youll be shot". Hmm well after two trips to this worryingly easy part of the network im starting to wonder. If the rest is like this then boy is london screwed.

I paid two trips to this small section the network, and one thing i have to state is, if your somehow killed by one of these trains then your a complete idiot!. While sitting in the tunnel waiting for one to pass the first thing you feel is the vacuum of air rush past you. A full minute before the train even goes past!. That coupled with the incredible noise and eventually lights is a good warning that a train is coming.

We were lucky with the first trip as the track lights had been left on so photography was easy although getting the correct angle so you get the train and tunnel without loosing your camera and arm proved to be a little troubling. Im not going to ramble on too much as the pictures can explain it faster then i can with words.

Just a quick check, have i been shot..... Nope, all good.

Its Snowing On The Hill

Probably the biggest mission we have ever undertaken. Countless attempts, lots of research into possibilites around 6 trips and countless cheeky bonuses we were in!

Snow Hill opened on the 1st of August 1874 and was built in the snow hill tunnel which linked the LC&DR to the Metropolitan railway south of Farringdon. The station was next to the Holburn Viaduct station and was subsequently renamed the Holborn Viaduct Low Level in 1912. The station finally closed on the 1st of June 1916 as a result of passenger trains through the tunnel being stopped.

Our journey began on a rainy day in April. Our plans had been finalized and we knew the score. I met Dsankt at a nearby bus stop and we headed over to join with JD and Stoop. We chatted for a while, aligning our karma for the up coming assault.

Once everything was set and we had no regret we headed to our "drop off point". With the ropes secured and the equipment checked stoop headed down first. Follow by myself. I didn't get to far before my mind screamed at me "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING". I froze. I had become very aware of how high i was. My body refused to let me go but i was now too far down to go back up so after a few words with JD and DS i slowly but surely got my confidence back, bit by bit. and edged my way to the floor.

We ducked into a side room and waiting for the others to descend. Once rejoined we headed across to the salt store (see Smithfields Salt in Excess) and formulated a plan of action.

Back over the fence we headed towards Farringdon. A little way up the track split and two service tracks headed alongside, finally stopping at a bricked up tunnel. Wonder what it led too. We took a few pictures, ducking into cover each time trains screamed past and then headed up to the station itself.

While the station is stripped bare of all its original features there are a bits that have been left, a sign or two and the stop lights for the tunnels but not a lot else. Again we took a selection of pictures before deciding wed done enough and headed back up to the car.

Took an incredible amount of time and planning but we finally got it done!.

Goldie Looking Chain?, No!.

Littered throughout the city of London, under the hustle and bustle of the street life, twisting and diving around the tube tunnels, the drains and sewers is the nervous system of London. Long tunnels of all shapes and sizes carrying water, gas, power and broadband.

It was a nice evening and i was strolling around Hyde Park with Loops in search of a memorial. when i got a phone call for JD who was also in London checking a few drains with Dsankt and Stoop. "Where are you?" i asked. "Underground", baffled as to how he had reception i probed deeper.

"In a drain?"
"No, well not exactly"
"hmm, is it brick"
"Yes"

I pondered for a while trying to think what else could be explorable in London apart from drains and trains.

"Not the subways?"
"....Yes"

I instantly high tailed it to the nearest tube station and headed over to meet them. Since they had been exploring for a while they were on the way out when we arrived. After a quick chat myself and loops headed down.

GLC Subway

After a small ladder we touched down in a lit brick tunnel with broadband cables running overhead and water pipes running along the floor. This was too good to be true, it felt like a drain, it looked like a drain but it had lights and there was no dirty water to trudge through. This must be what heaven is like.

We started taking photos before heading to the north. A few small alcoves connected from the side seemingly leading nowhere before we reached the end, a brick wall. The cables and pipes seemed to be fed through smaller holes and continued onwards but for us this was it.

Hmm lets try the south shall we. Same result, a brick wall. Ahh well it was good while it lasted. We were about to head out when loops pulled a rotten piece of cardboard from behind a pipe, as he turned it around his face lit up like the sun. Printed on the back was a detailed map for six other pipe subways in the surrounding area. The hunt was on!.

North Thames Gas Subway - West Branch

Easily the largest of the subways, in fact quite monstrous in size. This felt like the Paris comm tunnels, they just seemed to go on forever it was amazing. We visited this subway in two trips, as it needed it.

It was another cold night, but we had a mission to undertake. We arrived at our entrance and promptly headed down into the warmth of london's underbelly. We entered into a tunnel which was rather small in comparison to the others, but we persevered and headed west. Before long we came to a set of several junctions leading to small rooms housing emergency exits. We found that they cant be opened from the underneath. So basically they are the most useless emergency exits known to man.

We stuck it out with the original tunnel which began to open up and broaden. The amount of pipes and cables just seemed to increase as we went further along before we came to another large junction with a large concrete box shape tunnel heading south. We had a quick look and after the first corner we were met with a tunnel that just seemed to go on forever.

We decided to leave it for another time and headed back along the main path. This ended up turning into a real slug of a walk. Stupidly the ladders heading out were placed in the middle of the tunnel so a serious amount of squeezing was in order to progress further. Eventually we came to the end of the tunnel with a ladder leading up into a small room with what looked to be a disused drain running off half way up, now filled with concrete.

After a quick rest and a few pictures we headed back to our entrance and back to the car. We would return three days later.

North Thames Gas Subway - East Branch

Once more we ventured down into the Thames Gas Subways, this time heading east. Sadly it turned out to be the same situation as the GLC subways, the tunnel just kept going on and on until it finally reached a dead end.

We headed back and checked out some of the side tunnels, a few leaded directly over an underground station which was fun as there was a cold blast of air rushing through the subways every time a train went past. Unfortunately access down into the underground tunnels was not possible. We continued on before coming to a junction with the west branch. Damn. Oh well we had one more tunnel to check.

We backtracked to the main junction along the west branch to the tunnel that seemed to have no end. Sure enough it did have an end. A metal wall which connects to the Thames river. I wasn't to sure what the purpose of this tunnel was as it wasn't carrying any cables and didn't seem to go anywhere. Odd.

After exhausting all the other nooks and crannies we headed back topside.

We visited several other section and regional subways but those tales are for another time.

"You stay where you are, no sudden movements!"

Police and security can sometimes be a little bit, well, over the top. Stereotypically theres always a similar pair in every car. Like good cop, bad cop you have the one who wants to be friendly, jokes around with you and tries to find common ground. Then on the other hand you have the guy who has watched far to many American police movies and thinks hes just pulled over the baddest ninja terrorists, who if he takes his eyes off for one seconds will "gat" him down.

Alas there doing there job i guess, but a word of warning. "Relentless" gives you glazed eyes and makes you look like your on drugs. So expect the rubber glove treatment if your happen to come across your local bobby.

Enough Blabber, two random pics for y'all. (open full view)

International Drain Meet 08

Not so many nights ago 15 of the biggest and baddest hard hitters of the Drainorz community descended on the town of London for one night of suits, top hats, monocles, balloons and of course booze!. Cheers to all who showed up to make it an epic night we wont forget!.

Cementarium

For a long time now Shoreham cement has been on the husk of a planning permission commitee. Shorehams owners planned to redevelop the site and eventually reopen it sometime in 2010. Now i dont know anything about the cement industry, but from what ive seen from some of the sites in london that take up less then 1/8th of shoreham's size and still perform the same task, surley it would be easier and cheaper just to demolish the entire site and build a new one on top of it?.

In the 2-3 years its been since my last visit the site has become even worse. Every single walkway, platform, support and machine is covered in rust, presumably beyond repair, but the owners must have a plan, right?.

I had some free time in the week so i headed down with Site (AKA Garyface). As we arrived we were disappointed to find the site was crawling with builders. Crap. Now i had been driving for an hour to get here so i wasn't ready to give up without a fight. We headed over the fence and down towards the nearest building, just as a door opened and a worker came out right in front of us. We dived into a nearby bush and prayed we hadn't been seen. We stayed down for a few minutes until the worker drove off round the corner in his truck.

We made a break for the building again and ran straight into a room with no way out. Damn, try the next one?, blocked, next one?, also blocked. As we entered the next room we heard the rumbling of a truck coming towards us so with nowhere else to go we squeezed through a letterbox sized window covered in broken glass and finally arrived in the main turbine room.

Now it might be because i have done some bigger sites since i last visited Shoreham, but my memories of the huge concrete supports holding up the large metal pipes were instantly shattered. They seemed a hell of a lot smaller at only 2 stories high. Nevertheless we were here now so we started taking pictures.

One of the main reasons i like Shoreham is the graffiti that litters the site. Of course you still have your crap tags done by prepubescent kids trying to impress their local crew. But apart from that the rest have clearly had a lot of time and effort put into them, you could even call some of them "art".

By now the workers had left for the day and we had been walking around the dusty buildings for almost 5 hours and i was about ready to go so we headed back out and over the fence.

As always a good trip at Shore ham but i cant help wonder how its future will pan out.

Landmark

The last time we found ourselves in London was for Broadgate. Sadly Landmark is nowhere near as high or impressive but its something to pass the time i suppose. Current build height for Tower A is 33 floors while its brother B is following at 29. We ended up climbing both towers and each gave different views of the town not possible from the other.

Access was simple, well simple ish. We hopped a fence which had three levels of foundations the other side. A quick slip from tank saw him millimeters away from skewering his head on a iron pole, luckily he managed to escape with just a few scrapes and bruises.

We headed down and towards the first tower. Hmm. The views from the very top were, well, sh**. Large Advertisement hoarding meant unless you had a three meter tripod handy you weren't going to see anything. Rubbish. Luckily i spied a half decent vantage point. A sketchy support pillar with the dodgyiest ladders known to man, They weren't even bolted on. We were lucky in the fact it was just turning dark so we had the perfect clear blue skies before the nasty black or yellow skies descended upon us. A few snaps of Canary Wharf and we headed to Tower B which we thought we be better.

After the long climb down and back up again i was disappointed to find out, it wasn't much better. Although this Tower had no hoarding in the way it now had another problem. The other tower. It wasn't so much of a problem with cropped or portrait shots but landscapes had to be centered left to exclude the building from frame.

We had a little mooch to the roof and the cranes then decided to call it a day and get a Mcflurry. But oh no, McDonald's had "No Ice cream", any cheeseburgers? "Nope". What a service!.

Chambers

We accidentally found this site whilst looking for something else. Luck, what a crazy mistress she is.

I met up with Dsankt and we headed in and down the ladder towards the lift. We came into a series of wooden walkways leading to a large cold door marked 5. The rooms and passageways reminded me of American gold mines. As we ventured further into the maze we came across several relics of the buildings previous use. Meat carriages, shipping boxes and several cargo trolleys.

The further we went in the more damaged and dangerous the building became. With some of the ceilings completely collapsed in and several walls warping out. We eventually came to several large vaults containing lots of cabinets.

Upon closer inspection the cabinets contained, piles of old cheque books, sales documents and official wax stamp plates. We continued exploring all the remaining nooks and crannies looking for possible ways down to the rail station before heading back to the stairs and headed up.

Each floor above the basement level was stripped and the higher you got the more rotten the floors and walls became. We managed to get as high as level 4, only to be stopped due to the fact the stairways to levels 5 and 6 had collapsed and now sat in a twisted wreck in front of us.

After exhausting all further passageways we took a few pictures and headed back to our entrance

Sniff, Sniff

Whats thats smell?, can it be?, London Baby!