3,698 Comments Posted by Motts

LucieLou - no special lens, but I did have to bump up the contrast to knock out a lot of the gray from the overcast day... thanks!

Katy - no unfortunately I don't have the time to do any kind of comprehensive research before I head out... I just try to determine 1) where the place is, and 2) if it's abandoned.

At this location, I really had no idea what I was looking at, since I knew nothing about coke plants. But now after researching this, and the one in Germany, I know a heck of a lot more about the process and certain components of these kinds of facilities - and I might seek out specific areas to photograph the next time I explore one of these.

I think this is true for almost all the kinds of abandoned places I seek out...

autoguy - yeah those Heuletts look to be on the opposite side of the river, next to the LTV Coke Plant, which we scoped out the same day I shot Acme... they still had power, security, etc. at the time but I don't think the plant was operational. It didn't look very interesting so we skipped it, but now that I know those unloaders are back there...

I believe each oven had a number - this let everyone on top of the coke battery know which oven was which.

Doesn't mean they're right... unless there's a historical photo of one of these floating around somewhere?

I believe it's a laundry basket as well. Considering the heavy (and not child-friendly) construction, the large industrial caster wheels on the bottom, and it's location in an adult psychiatric hospital... I can't imagine what else it would be.

I think it's years worth of coal dust laying in all the crevices.

Most of what's left looked like poured concrete, brick, and steel.

I believe the gas was pulled into cooling towers (photos: http://www.pullman-mus...2.pl?recordid=11555), then transported over to the blast furnace over the suspension bridge for reuse or recovery. I do not know exactly what that process was, or what the gas was composed of. The vertical pipe looks like a burn-off mechanism, or perhaps a "scrubber" to clean venting gas (overflow?).

Seems like an electrified rail line, in a vertical format though - perhaps if you bridged the gap between the two you'd get a 250 volt current.

Nope, the entire plant looked pretty dead.

I think they were more like dormitories, with each "cubicle" holding three or four beds.

I'm sure I'll be down in Florida at some point; I will try!

I don't recall there being much left inside the projector room - I would imagine it was all scrapped.

Thanks, I took a photo class in college but didn't fare too well until I found abandoned buildings to shoot.