Michigan Central Station *56k no*

[Exitspeed]

I went on my annual trip to Detroit last month and we were able to get into the Michigan Train Station (MCS) for some urban exploring. This place is amazing. It's sad that it's in the shape it's in. If it was in Milwaukee it would be condos with shopping in the main area. The estimates to repair it have ranged from $80-$300 million. I think it's like 18 floors. The top floors were all offices and the hallways were lined with marble. Most of the marble is still int he building. Seriously like $10's of thousands of dollars in marble just laying there. We had to sneak in very covertly to get in. If you look at the google map, you can see the train tracks behind the building. We had to go underneath those tracks, underground (by Newark street) to get in. We did get all the way up to the roof and walked around for a while. It was easily one of the coolest things I've got to do in my life so far.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2405+West+Vernor+Highway&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

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[Yooformula]

thats some cool yet eerie shit!

[GTSLOW]

Bad ass! I would love to go somewhere like that and take photos.

[CATNHAT]

Nice Pics. I was just over there also looking at the GM Transmission plant in Flint that is going to be torn down. 2.2 MILLION square feet of buildings. They made the transmissions and other compnents for the Vette and for the XLR.

That place was a ghost town.

[Exitspeed]

Yeah, isn't it strange how the whole city feels like a ghost town?

I went to the Packard Plant last year. That was amazing as well?

[4I Notch]

Very cool! I would love to take a trip there.
Have you ever been in the old mental hospital or whatever it was in Wauwatosa? Not nearly as big as this place, but still really cool.

[Exitspeed]

Very cool! I would love to take a trip there.
Have you ever been in the old mental hospital or whatever it was in Wauwatosa? Not nearly as big as this place, but still really cool.

Where is that exactly?

[4I Notch]

Where is that exactly?

Watertown Plank & Swan Blvd.

[Exitspeed]

Watertown Plank & Swan Blvd.

That's a mental hospital? I always thought that was like a boys home.

I've thought about going there but Milwaukee is different then Detroit. In Detroit they really don't have security or police watching their abandoned buildings because there are just too many.

I've heard stories of police watching those buildings on Watertown plank though.

[FoxStang]

Awesome pictures! Do you have a gallery with more?

I understand the whole 56k internet meme, but does anyone seriously still use dial up?:rolf

[Exitspeed]

Awesome pictures! Do you have a gallery with more?

I understand the whole 56k internet meme, but does anyone seriously still use dial up?:rolf

Thanks.

I sure home no one on here still has dial up. On the Yamaha Virago forums I almost got banned for posting large pics and not links. It was a bunch of old dudes though. lol.

Those are all of them. It was too damn cold. lol. I only uploaded them to Facebook and not my flickr account.

[4I Notch]

That's a mental hospital? I always thought that was like a boys home.

I've thought about going there but Milwaukee is different then Detroit. In Detroit they really don't have security or police watching their abandoned buildings because there are just too many.

I've heard stories of police watching those buildings on Watertown plank though.
Not too sure what it was. I've been in those buildings 3 or 4 times in the past 2 years. Its always been at night, so trying to do that during the day would be sketchy.

[Silver350]

Cool Pictures looks like a lot of fun. Thank you for Sharing.

[95mustang302]

totally awesome. I didn't get pictures of the inside, but I have some good springtime pics of the place from last year on the outside in the courtyard. Would it be possible to get a few of the full res pics for some backgrounds?

[Exitspeed]

totally awesome. I didn't get pictures of the inside, but I have some good springtime pics of the place from last year on the outside in the courtyard. Would it be possible to get a few of the full res pics for some backgrounds?

Sure I'll post some full res ones when I get a chance.

I didn't get a chance to shoot the front this time as we went in from the backside.

We went to Slows BBQ right after we left there and it was weird sitting in Slows (which is just a couple blocks away) and seeing this towering building sitting there. It's so strange. It looks like the building survived a nuclear bomb and everything else around it didn't because it's just standing there by itself. The city originally had plans to extend the city over to Corktown but that never happened.

To give you guys some perspective, imagine taking a building like that (18 stories, considered the most grand train station ever built at the time) and putting it in Cudahy on Packard Ave. That is about the best comparison I can make.

[Feature Pony]

Next time you go let me know, I would love to go with you guys!!! There are a lot of cool places to see check this site out http://detroityes.com/home.htm

[Exitspeed]

Damn, thanks for the link to that site. i did tons of research before I went this year and didn't find that site.

Luckily I have a couple photographer friends that we meet up with that are our guides. Going through the basement was freaky as hell. you could easily get lost if you didn't keep your wits about you.

Another really cool part is in the basement he showed us the old mechanical room where all the mechanical stuff is. The room is almost pitch black. When you walk up to the door there are stairs that go down into the room but the entire room is filled with water. I'd say the room is probably 50 yards by 5 yards. Only three steps are out of the water and the steps go down 60 FEET! The water was completely frozen solid at the time.

[Flicktitty]

That's a mental hospital? I always thought that was like a boys home.



the large group of buildings was a school,turned orphanage. seems to be the same common story though that it was a mental hospital, there is a building on Hwy 100 and Watertown plank that was a TB Hospital.

Mel, Great photos, i've never been to Detroit but i would like to go someday.