On the one hand you could say these are not 'exploring' photos. On the other hand there is the fact that they were nearly all taken in Rockaway just after the sun rose on the Tuesday morning after the super-high tide brought in by Hurricane Sandy caused so much destruction. At the time, NYPD was blocking all non first responders from entering the peninsula. Quite literally we had to sneak onto the peninsula when there was a momentary shift change at the bridge checkpoint.
What we found you can see in the photos above, though photos can never grasp the smells of still smoldering fires, the eerie silence only being broken by harsh gusts of wind tossing debris through the streets and the sirens of fire trucks racing to and from the main land to refuel.
Rockaway, as we knew it, is no more. What reminds is a flooded out mess. Residents will have to decide if it's worth the thousands of dollars to fix each home, in face of the scientific fact that the ocean is rising and global warming will eventually put the entire peninsula under water - perhaps sooner than later.
As a thank you to veterans I offer this photo: what you're looking at is most likely a very very old (WW1) machine gun placement I stumbled across today at the old Ft. Tilden (on Rockaway) - This concrete foundation has been under sand for decades, and Hurricane Sandy washed away all of that sand covering it. It lasted through the storm (along with all the other old bunkers) even while the road along the beach crumbled away and is now completely destroyed. The dune that separated the road from the beach has also completely washed away.
As for this gun placement - let's just say it was built to last by men that didn't compromise.
This gun placement was one of two, connected to the bunker seen in the above photos - and was known as 'Battery Kessler'. We'll be posting a whole lot about Ft. Tilden sometime in the next year.
The bunkers at Ft. Tilden also survived, all very much intact. As you can see one of them (directly behind the gun turret) now has trees stuffed in it from the water that flowed through.
The storm also up/uncovered a long stick of railroad track. This likely came from somewhere on the Tilden property, given how old it looks and the fact that Ft. Tilden once had it's own military railroad. In different areas this long buried track is also now exposed, revealing rotted out cross-ties and rusted railroad spikes.
More on that in the coming months when we give a deeper dive into Ft. Tilden history.
The thing about the NYC subway system is, that it is so absolutely fucking huge. You can spend years wandering these tunnels and never see every single spot that there is.
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Chartered in 1833, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was constructed to provide service between the two namesake cities following roughly parallel to the Schuylkill River. Full service to Philadelphia began in 1839 operating out of a depot near Broad and Cherry Streets. This was replaced in 1859 with a new terminal at Broad and Callowhill. As the railroad grew in the late 1880's, expanding to Harrisburg and leasing lines that allowed connections to New York City, the P&R was in need of yet another new terminal.
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The Grand Central trolley loop is one of the least known, least talked about, and least documented abandoned tunnel segments in the NYC subway system. These rare photos show the present day (2012) state of this obscure location.
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One year ago today, In 2011, Hurricane Irene came calling on NYC. Mass hysteria broke out ahead of time as Mayor Bloombag (bag of hot air that he is/was) ordered the subway system shut down (for no reason) and predicted massive flooding in 'zone 1' neighborhoods (close to the shoreline) and ordered those areas evacuated. Few actually listened to him, though there was a run bottled water and other foods at area supermarkets.
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Old train cars getting new paint. Ain't nuthin else to talk about.
This is part 2 of our photo series on Par Chemical.
The first one can be found here.
New Jersey is often associated with huge ridiculous chemical factories. This place falls directly into that category. Abandoned for several years now, this massive factory and laboratory have since been taken over by nature. The company that built it is still in business - only they've modernized their operation and built a huge new facility elsewhere on their expansive property - leaving this one behind to decay. it would probably cost more to clean it up and scrap it out than to leave is rusting away in it's present day state.
New Jersey is often associated with huge ridiculous chemical factories. This place falls directly into that category. Abandoned for several years now, this massive factory and laboratory have since been taken over by nature. The company that built it is still in business - only they've modernized their operation and built a huge new facility elsewhere on their expansive property - leaving this one behind to decay. it would probably cost more to clean it up and scrap it out than to leave is rusting away in it's present day state.
Somewhere in an urban part of New Jersey, an entire set of city blocks laid abandoned.
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