# Abandoned highways and other corpses of infrastructure

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 12, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364 "2006-06-12T01:38:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/121 "2006-06-23T20:38:41Z")

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I stumbled across a cable TV show about a place in Brazil called [Fordlandia](http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/extra/fordlandia/fordlandia.html) In the 1920’s Henry Ford decided to raise his own rubber for tires. He pretty much imported a rubber processing/tire manufacturing plant, plus the staff and families to run it. The show I was watching had pictures of a coffin that had been brought down, in case anyone needed one, still sitting empty in a warehouse.

Unfortunately, Ford was spectacularly bad at raising rubber trees (and didn’t both to hire horticulturalist until it was to late). The place closed down without ever having processed any rubber.

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**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/122 "2006-06-24T00:58:27Z")

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A great song about local railway stations being abandoned in England:

[Slow Train](http://www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fas/anotherhat_slow.html)

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/123 "2006-07-04T21:41:06Z")

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I hope it’s OK to bump this thread again, for these two photos I took today of two runways of another abandoned airfield:

[![](https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3/owainsutton/DSC00005.jpg) ](https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3/owainsutton/DSC00005.jpg)  
[![](https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3/owainsutton/DSC00002.jpg) ](https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3/owainsutton/DSC00002.jpg)

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**Author:** ![EPDerby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a87d85/32.png) [@EPDerby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EPDerby)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-highways-and-other-corpses-of-infrastructure/360364/124 "2006-07-04T22:16:51Z")

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A few years back I learned about Hashima Island, which sits at the entrance to Nagasaki Harbor. After 84 years of coal-mining, the island was abandoned in the mid-70s.

[Cabinet Magazine](http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/7/hashima.php)

There are no online pictures with the article, but I Googled the island and found a bunch of sites with photographs.

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