Category: Transportation

Penalty For Improper Use

$20 is what it cost if a passenger improperly stopped this train by pulling down a lever. It’s hard to estimate the cost of rail transportation being effectively stopped in its tracks by Sir Robert Muldoon’s government in 1975. By the time Muldoon was ousted in a snap election in 1984, only two trains of this style remained, having been replaced by busses. A group of enthusiasts is currently restoring this lonely survivor with the intention of returning it to riding the rails from 2022 as a reminder of a bygone era of New Zealand’s history.
by urbexcentral

From Ten To Two

Built in the late 1880s, this 1.1 kilometre tunnel was completed some years before the construction of the rail lines it ultimately served, which eventually snaked their way south to meet it. Located in an area described as “an unpeopled wilderness”, it required a township of workers to be established and a brickworks created. Additional materials were brought in by canoe to Te Kuiti and by rail to the Puniu river, and hauled from there to the worksite by horses. After the work was completed, and trains were not yet running south of Te Kuiti, the access roads and tunnel had a life for some years as a road for horsemen and pack-animals bound for the southern parts of the King Country. Traversing the tunnel was memorably described as “an uncomfortable experience . . . get[ting] a packhorse bogged in the stiff clay . . . through the black dripping hole in the hill.”

130 years after its construction, and 40 since its abandonment, the dripping continues, and the clay is still incredibly boggy.

Thanks to The Forsaken Explorer NZ for directing me when I got a little lost on the hunt: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsDB2AmI-Lr4EhHOgZxA7Ag
by urbexcentral

Hard Labour

Sentences with hard labour were common in the New Zealand criminal justice system through the 19th and into the 20th centuries. Convict working gangs were dispatched to build public works, often making bricks on-site from materials sourced near their worksites. They wore distinctive prison uniforms marked with arrows to decrease the likelihood of covert escapes. While the clay was still soft, inmates marked bricks with arrows as a form of self-portrait: a reminder of their presence and their contributions in spite of the ostracisation associated with their incarceration. Several inmate fingermarks are also visible in the bricks of this 19th century convict-built rail tunnel abandoned in 1900.
by urbexcentral

Arnold

For almost six decades, Wellington airport’s incoming and outgoing flights were controlled from this tower which had its own residential mailbox on a suburban street parallel to the runway. It was opened in 1959 and operated until 2018. While it was known among Airways New Zealand staff as, “The Grand Old Lady of Wellington”, its neighbours are said to have had a more charming and humble nickname for it: “Arnold”.
by urbexcentral

West Coast ghost town

Once a thriving railway township, Rewanui was abandoned in 1985 when the railway branch was closed. The town was taken care of and preserved by its caretaker until in 1988 where a huge landslide following a flood destroyed most of the buildings and bridges that remained, tragically killing the sole occupant of the town.

After quite a long walk and a lot of searching through bush we found many remnants of the past still exist throughout the valley including old coal carts and mines.

 

 

 

 

by urbexcentral

Smash You Bro

This car wreckers yard was the set of the New Zealand cult classic film Smash Palace released in 1981. The junkyard offers a rare opportunity to see cars from multiple eras and in various states of decay – some are even in the process of being reclaimed by nature by means of plants growing inside them.

Car Graveyard

by urbexcentral

Ruapehu Railways

Standing at the feet of Mt Ruapehu are the remains of several railway viaducts in various stages of decay. Modernisation of the railway network and the move towards concrete bridges in place of the historic steel viaducts has meant that these symbols of industrialisation are no longer in use. One of the viaducts has been turned into a tourist attraction with the option of walking across it – on this viaduct I took the path less travelled and popped down for a look at the hidden service platform beneath its deck.

These steel pins held the wires taut.
Looking up at a viaduct
The viaducts are surrounded by wildlife and forests
This was the most decayed of the 3 viaducts
A disused rail tunnel looking out
A disused rail tunnel looking in
The new concrete viaduct with the old steel one in the background.
The steel rivets holding the viaduct together
The view of the viaduct from the platform beneath
The old wooden service platform beneath one of the disused viaducts
This was found under one of the viaducts

by urbexcentral

NZR – Boneyard

As I was rattling by on the train I noticed this small train boneyard in the middle of the countryside – and we decided that it deserved an inspection!
Surrounded by a high electrified perimeter fence and with dogs baying nearby, we couldn’t hang around but managed to snap these shots.IMGP2922 IMGP2924 IMGP2929 IMGP6099 IMGP6101_2 IMGP6114

by urbexcentral

Mind the (kina) gap.


Following on from the success of our last collaboration with these traceurs we tagged along with them for a day, this is the first video in a series displaying their unique ability to interact with and explore the urban environment via. parkour.Their philosophy revolves heavily around the concept: “Etre fort pour être utile” (Be strong to be useful) and as you will see in some of our other videos (some yet to come) they practice what they preach…

Much like urban exploration, our bread and butter, parkour is about interacting with our urban environment and experiencing it in new and different ways. Where we preserve it statically on film and in video, practitioners of parkour interact kinetically with the landscape.

Massive respect to the guys from Wellington Parkour and Freerunning for performing these feats.

by urbexcentral

Cockatoo Island – Introduction/Teaser

This is the first in a new series of posts focusing on Cockatoo Island, situated in Sydney harbour, with each of these instalments focusing on a different aspect of what cockatoo island has to offer in the way of urban exploration, the video here is a general overview of some of the different features of the island.

During it’s colourful history it has been used as a Military Barracks, Prison/Gaol, Shipyard and Naval Dockyard amongst other things. As a result the island is teeming with reminders of it’s history and is a plethora of abandoned buildings, tunnels, cranes and other structures including a beautiful old power station.

For more information about Cockatoo Island see:
http://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/about/history.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockatoo_Island,_New_South_Wales

by urbexcentral

Departures

“This is the final call for flight UC101. Departing at 1300 hours from Gate 9 for Space Station X…”  With a bit of imagination, this abandoned airport boarding bridge could be a gateway to another reality…

by urbexcentral

Rolling

Abandoned rolling-stock, or so we thought. They’d been sitting there idle for years, but within a couple of weeks of our visit-  they had disappeared without a trace…

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by urbexcentral