herrala.html

Herrala is currently having a second coming, after industry has left the remote village far South-West of central of Hollola. New hope is brought on tracks by the Lh-Ke "straightening" railway route section, which is currently being constructed. If it goes well, it may be the best thing happened to this village since 1899, when this brick factory was established.

The small factory operated for a few decades before being bought by an entrepreneur, who changed the factory to bear his family name. After his death in 1970's, the family continued brick production for some time. After ceasing brick industry, the factory has been an indoor shooting range, but nowadays it's only a private junk storage.

Something funny occurred when we were checking out a weird find, a functional safety related system, the shooting range's warning signal that responds to one gate's position. We talked about how strange it is to find functional lights from abandoned places and played with the gate, which caused a red signal light to blink and stop blinking. All of the sudden a young lad opened a door in nearby, and calmly walked to the junk rooms. Raiztlin saluted the young man, but was totally ignored. Then the fellow left and we continued exploration. :)

The safety system in action: ** [mpeg media] RED WARNING!

	Appearance of the factory is as "rural industry" as it can be. Wooden building painted red with bushes and farming junk all around.
	Classic drying attic has doors for ventilation.
	It seriously looks like the smoke stack would be inclining towards West.
	A later built extension, large capacity outdoor drying wing on the right.
	The old factory has been expanded in late 1960's with a new production hall. Even if built of bricks, it looks more modern than the other buildings around it.
	Raiztlin doing something silly on the roof.
	Outdoor drying wing.
	Main tunnel of the drying wing is a wooden beam jungle.
	Machine controller maybe?
	The new machine hall is emptied.
	Some locals have airsofted here and built primitive hideouts of pallets, plywood and other junk. The lousy text welcomes players to the urban jungle.
	This wall was built of factory's own bricks. Who made the first bricks?
	These wheels would control the burning process in some way.
	What the hell? All of the sudden, you find yourself in the middle of a hardware store's garden goods department! Or atleast that's what this corner looks like. And it is in the middle of this "abandoned" factory.
	The red booths hold unbeliavable amounts of the type of junk that people usually bury to their attics and basements. There are also shutters which open this view to the shooting range. Note, there's even a commercial of a forest industry company on the wall.
	The former brick drying space on the upper floor had been converted to a shotgun range. I wouldn't rank the interior very high in looks.
	These wheels remind of the original function of the factory.
	The topmost drying storey has been saved from wrapping to white plastic.
	Maybe a bit windy in winter?
	Aa-ha! The place has been masked to look like an innocent shooting range, but this target item reveals the truth. A terrorist training base it is, and this target represents a police.
	One important factor of any plant producing bricks, the kiln, hasn't been introduced yet. So here it is.
	The red bulb is not for creating atmosphere, but for signalling warning of a permission to shoot.
	In the kiln, tunnel 1.
	In the kiln, tunnel 2.
	More faded industry of the village. Whatever this factory had once done, it was now local voluntary fire brigade's station. When their new station will be finished, this building be even less occupied.

Appearance of the factory is as "rural industry" as it can be. Wooden building painted red with bushes and farming junk all around.

Classic drying attic has doors for ventilation.

It seriously looks like the smoke stack would be inclining towards West.

A later built extension, large capacity outdoor drying wing on the right.

The old factory has been expanded in late 1960's with a new production hall. Even if built of bricks, it looks more modern than the other buildings around it.

Raiztlin doing something silly on the roof.

Outdoor drying wing.

Main tunnel of the drying wing is a wooden beam jungle.

Machine controller maybe?

The new machine hall is emptied.

Some locals have airsofted here and built primitive hideouts of pallets, plywood and other junk. The lousy text welcomes players to the urban jungle.

This wall was built of factory's own bricks. Who made the first bricks?

These wheels would control the burning process in some way.

What the hell? All of the sudden, you find yourself in the middle of a hardware store's garden goods department! Or atleast that's what this corner looks like. And it is in the middle of this "abandoned" factory.

The red booths hold unbeliavable amounts of the type of junk that people usually bury to their attics and basements. There are also shutters which open this view to the shooting range. Note, there's even a commercial of a forest industry company on the wall.

The former brick drying space on the upper floor had been converted to a shotgun range. I wouldn't rank the interior very high in looks.

These wheels remind of the original function of the factory.

The topmost drying storey has been saved from wrapping to white plastic.

Maybe a bit windy in winter?

Aa-ha! The place has been masked to look like an innocent shooting range, but this target item reveals the truth. A terrorist training base it is, and this target represents a police.

One important factor of any plant producing bricks, the kiln, hasn't been introduced yet. So here it is.

The red bulb is not for creating atmosphere, but for signalling warning of a permission to shoot.

In the kiln, tunnel 1.

In the kiln, tunnel 2.

More faded industry of the village. Whatever this factory had once done, it was now local voluntary fire brigade's station. When their new station will be finished, this building be even less occupied.

REFERENCES:

Suomen tiiliteollisuuden historia, A.Paloheimo / T.Lepistö / J.Suonio, Suomen tiiliteollisuusliitto r.y./Tiilikeskus Oy, 1980

SITES WITH NOTEWORTHY CONTENT CONCERNING KATILA:

HerSa - airsoft crew's homepage with action shots from the factory
TheStrangler on slide