dimanche 4 novembre 2012

The City of Mines

Degtyarsk is an industrial city of Russia. The main industry there is mining and processing of copper. They also have a garment factory and a bakery there. Degtyarsk is often characterized by its red lakes and slagheaps. We gonna show some abandoned shops and mines of the city.



Slagheap of Kapitalnaya-1 mine.
The quarry is still being developed. On the right you can see scales for trucks.
Diesel generatot “Vepr”.
The central mechanical repair shop of the Degtyarsk Mining Group. It still functions but not at full. They used to have a huge production of details for the needs of quarries here. Today they are slowly selling everything but still make different details at individual requests.
They have a lot of machines here: turning, milling, belt-type ones, etc.
“Shavings”
The shop is big so it even has the rails for trolleys and special platforms. There are also a lot of cranes: each is in an operating condition.
We wonder how long it takes to change a bulb if it hangs six meters high?
This thing weighing some hundreds of kilograms is used for making workpieces for future details.
The only new machine in the shop: it makes metal workpieces.
Various tools left scattered around.
Some worker has left his crossword here.
Pipes lay unneeded anymore.
They have about fifteen turning machines.
“Do not turn it on. Works are being done on the line”.
Here is another machine and a capacity for water to the left.
Ladder to the second floor.
Seeing the shop for the last time and moving forward.
The furnace for burning details. They have two of them.
Each furnace has its own converter and a cooling system.
Here the details are tested. More often they tested drills because their workload was huge and if a drill broke it could break many other things around.
The table that was used for tests.
“Do not fill the bucket to the brim.” If one fills it to the brim the metal can flow over and spoil everything around including workpieces, who will pay for that? So, do not fill the bucket to the brim!
This is the furnace where metal is melted. Behind it is a transformator, nearby is a ventilation pipe half a meter thick.
The bucket for metal is rather small.
Fire hoses stretch to the furnace just in case. All the floor is covered with molding sand, it was used for casting details. There are also a lot of boxes with handles – flasks.
These are models. They used to be made of wood. Today, in the worst case, they are made of plastic. But we should say goodbye to the foundry and go further.
Firebrick floor is typical for such a place.
The roof is not wooden anymore.
These machines are also not used today.
Those very rails we mentioned above.
“Drunkenness won’t be tolerated!”
“German-Russian mining dictionary”
Working place of a grinding master.
Photos of the best workers were hung in the wall.
Radio “Belarus” does not work anymore.
We are leaving to go to the administration of the Degtyarsk Mining Group.
The building has three storeys and for 90% it consists of offices.
We can’t even say what this hall was used for.
Here’s a long corridor and WC on the right.
Some hangar was also left abandoned.
Maybe it is a crushing plant.
This was a copper mine.
It’s rapidly decaying.
Red sand and a dump.
This is how the building looks inside.
Source ; www.englishrussia.com

Dancing the Night Away

“The Great Depression” was the worst economic period in history and was caused by a stock market crash in 1929. Millions of people lost their jobs and homes as a result and took to begging or stealing as a means of survival. With no money and little hope, people began dancing as a means of escaping the gloom of everyday life.

Dancing the Night Away
By the 1930s, dance marathons became a profitable business and participants who managed to make it to the end of the marathon stood in line to win cash prizes.
Dancing the Night Away
The first record was set by Alma Cummings who danced an amazing, 27 hours! Marathons could last weeks or months with the only stipulation, that you needed to dance around the clock. The longest recorded marathon in history was a staggering 4152 hours and 30 minutes.
Dancing the Night Away
Some people died during the marathon and others fell into a coma and never recovered. By the end of the 1930s, dance marathons were banned in most states.
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
Dancing the Night Away
 
Dancing the Night Away

Source ; www.izismile.com