Today's location is a former leather factory located next to a railroad. I had been travelling past it numerous times thinking, that I'll get there some day.

My background research has once again revealed a neighbor, who was far from pleased with unexpected visitors and because of this we left my summer car a bit further away and walked a longer route to the location.



Here we are!



Every door was open and every window broken. The company ceased operations in 1989 and apparently nothing has been here since.



Greeted by a mess, again.



A large production room with no equipment left.



The wooden drums were used to process the skins in the early stages of production.



A closer look at one of the drums. Chrome was used in making the skins better suited for leather products, and probably some substance containing it was led to the drums. This also meant that the soil under and around the factory was seriously contaminated. The contamination levels were such, that in fact the authorities had warned that constant presence around the factory was a health hazard.



Strange wooden things, which probably also had a role in the leather production back in the days. Probably they were an important part of the production, as there were so many of them.



The view one floor up. This area looks like it has been modernized in the 1970's.



We had company.



A very old and broken scale.



Again the wall seems too modern to be from the 1940's.



Well. the elevator definitely isn't from the 1940's.



The top floor offices.



Looks like there were once important papers here.



The evening express. I've taken that train multiple times. And that's how I found the factory in the first place.

More photos: https://desertedfi...ther-factory-2020/

I published these photos way back in November. A local urbexer has commented, that the place is now out of bounds. The owners have blocked every single doorway and window and installed cameras. The place is really tightly shut and guarded.

So glad I managed to get in before that!

In the early 1950’s a mine was founded in a remote swamp area. As soon as it started operations, a small village was built around it. There were around 250 houses at the peak with some 1000 people living there.

The company strived to keep their employees happy in the middle of nowhere. They bought areas for recreation in the vicinity, built shops and services. And to keep them entertained, they built a multi purpose assembly hall for free time activities. The early 1960’s building hosted movies, dance nights and even sports were played there.

The story ends in a familiar way. The mine was closed in the early 1990’s and people started to move away. The shops, bank and post office closed, the assembly hall was abandoned.



Although the building is not in use anymore, somebody keeps cutting the grass. It wasn’t an overgrown jungle.



A-ha. Somebody had even been kind enough to hold the door open with something that looks like an old flag post.



At least it has been possible to play basketball here. There has probably also been a silver screen in this end or the other, as movies are mentioned as one activity, which has taken place here.



This is the former lobby. The use of natural light was clearly a theme here, and the sunroof provides just that despite all the doors and windows having been boarded shut. The main entrance is straight up front.



According to my sources there's a bowling alley in the basement. I didn't go there, though. I'm slightly afraid of the dark.



The ticket booth.



The cloakroom.



A final look at the hall before the journey continues.

Great stuff. Some unique finds

Thank you!

The road trip and story go on, still for a while.



Another small rural town, another former co-operative store. This is again the very distinct work of the architects of SOK. many similar examples once were the main source for groceries and other stuff for inhabitants in these towns.

I spotted this building for the first time in 2009 or 2010 and it has been in this state ever since. Apparently it can’t be demolished as it is protected, but nobody has made up any use to it.

The building was built in the 1940’s next to an old wooden co-operative store, which was located to the left of the picture. Downstairs was a grocery store, upstairs was a restaurant called the Goldfish.

In the 1960’s exactly the same happened here as happened in the other location I linked to earlier in this thread. The wooden part of the store was demolished, a large, low, one-storey high department store wing was constructed and connected to the old functionalistic part. According to a diploma work written about this location, the co-operative wanted to demolish this building, but the town made them keep it. So they coated the building with the same white metal as the new part.

In the late 1990’s changes happened again. The new store seen in the background was constructed behind the 1960’s wing, which was then demolished to make way for a parking lot. As this part was protected, it was left standing, empty.

The building was last used in 1998. The roof is leaking, the basement is flooding and it’s generally in a very bad condition. A diploma work done in 2016 suggests its conversion to a hotel-restaurant, but nothing has happened.

And probably nothing will happen in the near future.



Not exactly abandoned, but close to so. This is a house in an old mining village in the middle of nowhere. The mine closed in the 1980's, and people pretty much left. When newspapers in Finland list the cheapest apartments in the country, this village is usually on the top spot. You can get two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen for 20 000 euros.

There are plans to reopen the mine, so maybe this place will still get a second chance.



Just another burnt out ruin? Definitely not.

Pekka Heikkinen & co is a more than 100 year old bakery famous for its bread in the town of Kajaani in Northern Finland. The building itself was designed by famous architect Eino Pitkänen, whose works have pretty much made Kajaani the capital of Finnish functionalistic architecture.

The bakery was built in 1947 and it still operated in full swing in the spring of 2018, when its roof caught fire. The cause was the worn out insulation of the chimney, which allowed it to release heat resulting in a fire.

Nobody got hurt. The company found a new location and the production of bread and pastries resumed a half a year later. Sadly the building was beyond repair. The landmark was demolished in 2021.

And this, my dear friends, is sadly the last entry of this roadtrip.

The very same day I got my summer car back from the maintenance, this part fell off.



The part was located under the engine to protect it from water and rocks, not that there was much to protect. The oil consumption was up to 1,2 litres / 2000 kilometers and I had realized that a rattling noise heard since The Killer Locomotive Memorial was that the protective rubbers of the engine had worn out making the engine shake against the body of the car.

Two hours later another soul left the body.



This part was used to protect my legs from the sharp edges of the rails where the driver seat was attached. It wasn’t important, but it started to look like the poor thing was now seriously falling apart.

And only a couple of more days had passed, when I realized that the engine didn’t sound normal anymore. The sound was metallic and sounded like it was coming through a pipe. I believe, that the cam belt was failing.

Then this happened.



The brakes had issues ever since I bought the car and the ABS hadn’t functioned in a while. The second light indicates that the Lambda sond has failed. This had its consequences. Fuel consumption went up from 7,8 to 9,6 litres / 100 km. I started having serious doubts about actually being able to complete my challenge about visiting all current and former municipalities of Finland in one summer.



So here I am cruising through the beautiful scenery of Kainuu, when the inevitable happens. The automatic transmission fails. I am left with only three functioning gears of four. The fuel consumption instantly goes up to heights I can’t sustain.



This holy trinity is such a beautiful sight. The gearbox, the engine and the brakes have all failed with 50 kilometers to the nearest town. What else do you need to run the car?

I managed to drive to the town, parked my car, ripped the front licence plate as a trophy and ordered the scrap man. The following morning a local guy arrived, asked what I wanted for the car and bought it for 50 euros to use as spare parts. He allowed me to wait for my friend to pick me up at his place, cooked lunch and asked if I wanted a drink.



An here is my poor summer car ready to become a parts donor while I head towards my former home town. We had been drinking all day with the buyer, and I passed out as soon as I boarded my friend’s car.

The road trip may be over, but this thread isn't. As my car broke down a full 50 municipalities before I managed to visit the final, 571th, I now had one and a half weeks time to roam in my former home town in the North.



This area is a late 1960’s – early 1970’s built central institution for the mentally disabled. This is where they lived, studied and were treated for decades.

But like the case is with mental asylums, time passed institutions like this. The patients have been moved to more modern and smaller institutions and this one has been emptied to make way for a new residential area.

The area was more like a city within a city. It was made up of ten separate buildings with different functions. The use of the area ended in 2019.



The building seen in the first picture was the administration building. This one was one of many identical ones, which housed the patients.



We did explore the entire, large area, but weren’t alone. There were several people walking their dogs and even a large group of young men painting a graffiti.



We didn’t find a point of entry. The most interesting thing we found was the graveyard of old garden swings.

And so my summer holidays were over. I left my former home town and came back home to the Capital Region and resumed my daily habit of going to the office. As September came, my weekly dance lessons started, too.

The weather was still beautiful and warm, and I had some strange surge of energy after my vacation. I decided to use a city bike to get from my home to the school we practiced in. After all it was only around 10 kilometers, although the area is not the most biker friendly in the country.

I had been dancing with this same group since a year ago (but not for a year thanks to the pandemic). I had paid attention to a rather large lot close to our training premises, which seemed empty.

It was formerly owned by a company running a large mall in downtown Helsinki. The area contained a huge car dealership, a petrol station and storage and manufacturing facilities. The lot had been vacated as a plan to construct apartments existed. Only the petrol station and one additional building would be preserved.



That day I noticed that work had started. The to be preserved petrol station and ad tower are to the left, the to be demolished car dealership is to the right and one of the factories is at the back.

I wasn’t happy with the sight. The summer had brought back my long lost passion for urban exploration, which I had lost back in 2017 after some failed photography projects. When I noticed that this location was vanishing, I thought I should become more active again. I wanted to explore and photograph places before they were destroyed.

I didn’t realize it yet, but this was the start of something. It may have been the roadtrip of a lifetime, but my golden age as an urban explorer had only started.

Interesting posts and stories to accompany them.
Sorry about your car

Looking forward to your next additions

Does the broken lambda sensor really increase the fuel consumption that much? I think I've been well within the normal tolerances with both of my V70s even though the Brown Rocket had and the Silver Lightning has a faulty lambda, and the light comes on after a while whenever I reset the fault codes. It could explain the rather hefty fuel bill, though...

Oh well, a friend promised to sell me his stopgap low-mileage 60 mpg V50 1.6D this summer, so the Quicksilver only needs to pass one more inspection. The Turd sold within 30 minutes of putting up the ad online. I wonder if I'll break the record with a better-equipped and lower-mileage example. The oil consumption is phenomenal, though.

Posted by Tupsumato Does the broken lambda sensor really increase the fuel consumption that much? I think I've been well within the normal tolerances with both of my V70s even though the Brown Rocket had and the Silver Lightning has a faulty lambda, and the light comes on after a while whenever I reset the fault codes. It could explain the rather hefty fuel bill, though... Oh well, a friend promised to sell me his stopgap low-mileage 60 mpg V50 1.6D this summer, so the Quicksilver only needs to pass one more inspection. The Turd sold within 30 minutes of putting up the ad online. I wonder if I'll break the record with a better-equipped and lower-mileage example. The oil consumption is phenomenal, though.

The Lambda light usually either indicates a faulty lambda sensor or mass airflow sensor. I've broken both, and yes, it does increase the fuel consumption quite a lot.

How much do you want for your V70? I'm actually looking for a new summer car ;)

Posted by Deserted Finland How much do you want for your V70? I'm actually looking for a new summer car ;)

I'll let you know when (if) it becomes available. Probably something reasonable. The previous one sold for something like 600 euro but it was due inspection in a month whereas this will have a fresh stamp when I put it for sale.

http://tromu.kapsi.fi/v.mp4 :3

Posted by Tupsumato I'll let you know when (if) it becomes available. Probably something reasonable. The previous one sold for something like 600 euro but it was due inspection in a month whereas this will have a fresh stamp when I put it for sale. http://tromu.kapsi.fi/v.mp4 :3

Although a V70 Mk1 would be just perfect, I think yours will be available a bit too late. I usually start my season around the 1st of May.

But thanks anyway!

Yeah, I think our schedules won't match. The earliest the car would be available is somewhere in late June/early July.

Maybe I'll call the guy who bought the previous one. He had a second son nearing driving age as well and obviously the younger brother can't have anything worse than the older one...