| Water tower at Riihimäki (Ri) train yard |
 |
Inspired by Silent Wall's incompleted visit to this tower, we decided to also go take a look while already being in the city and in exploration mode. It is true the stairs were rotten, but they did carry three full grown persons up and back fine.
 |
The locomotive water tower in Riihimäki junction is of the newer basic type. There are towers like this at many trainyards, but not all of them are as easily accessible. Directly opposite to this tower, at the other side of the tracks, there is a functioning traffic control tower with glass windows to all directions, also towards the window hole where visitors must climb in here. But that seems to be no problem. |
|---|---|
 |
Outlook gives promises of a spacy tower top, even two floors, but you will see that's really not the case. |
 |
First thing to find after entering is the bottom floor's heating oven which has kept the water tanks warm during winters. Compared to the cylindrical three meter tall oven in Huutokoski tower, this looks really small, especially considering it has kept much larger amounts of water warm. |
 |
The weak conditioned wooden staircase contained a few intermediate landings, but there was practically nothing to check in them. Here it the top landing. s |
 |
So what's up with the space? It is totally reserved for the water tanks. Just like it can be figured from the shape of the tower, there are two tanks and they fill the entire tower top. |
 |
Narrow crawlspace between wall and tanks. |
 |
It would have been possible to climb up there with another ladders (these were terminally rotten), but there were simply too much pigeons for the option to be inviting. Already the top landing itself contained too much excrement and dead birds. |
 |
I suppose the age of the tower matches pretty much to this welded age marking on the tank bottom. |
 |
Main pipes of the other tank. |
 |
Valves look really nice. The piping seems first strongly oversized for water flow that can't have reached very high average level. Apparently need for relatively quick tanking has required it so. |
 |
A valve missing the handle. |
 |
Southern direction of Finland's busiest railway tracks. The more you go South the busier it gets. |
REFERENCES:
SITES WITH NOTEWORTHY CONTENT CONCERNING ffff: