Roadwolf's Blog

Okay, so I am trying to think of a new Urban Exploration post to do.  I know people want to see more photos of the Buffalo Aud.  But I really do not have many more decent photos to show of that place.

I haven’t been exploring in some time, however many of the places I have been in the past I have never posted.  Here is a list of all the places I have photos of.

1. ACSYS (Oshawa)
2. Akron Caves
3. Bethlehem Steel
4. Brickworks (Toronto)
5. Brighton Gravel Pit
6. Sattler Theatre (on Broadway)
7. Buffalo Central Terminal
8. CANRON
9. Carbo Sil
10. Central State Hospital (Indiana)
11. CFRB Studios
12. CFRB Transmitter
13. Church of the Transfiguration
14. CN Tower
15. Days Inn (Hamburg)
16. Degra Wells Memorial (Hamilton)
17. Detroit Office Building
18. Detroit Theatre
19. Edgar Air Force Base
20. German Orphanage
21. Guelph Steam Tunnels
22. Hearn
23. Houdile
24. Kingsbury Ordinance (Indiana)
25. Kirby Road Farm Complex
26. Lakeview
27. Lister Block
28. Lyric Theatre
29. Mamora mines
30. Markham Airport
31. Millgrove Drug Rehab Center
32. NF Plant (North Bay)
33. NIKE Missle Base
34. Oakville Cheese Factory
35. Oakville Mini Putt
36. Ontario Power Company
37. Peterbrough Radar Station
38. Picton Rehab Hospital
39. Port McNicholl Grain Elevator
40. Studebaker
41. Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
42. Toronto Film Studios
43. Toronto Hydro
44. Toronto Power Company
45. Wellington Incinirator
46. Westleyville
47. Whitby Psych
48. WSIB
49. Wurlitzer Theatre

If anyone wants to see the photos / hear a story on one of those places, please comment or email me and let me know.  I want to write another UE Story soon.

Also…  For Buffalo, NY Area land owners.  If they want to hire me as a security consultant I am willing to do such a thing.  Since I don’t explore anymore (and since I am unemployed)…   I am willing to go through abandoned properties legally and look for potential safety or security risks.  I am very pro-safety minded, and can identify many potential liability risks – from an explorers perspective.

They hire ex-hackers to develop internet protection systems,  why not hire an ex-urban explorer to point out risks on your property.  Urban Explorers are basically hackers in their own way anyhow – in fact another name for them before Urban Exploration became popular, was ‘reality hackers’.

Tags: Buffalo Life, Photography, Urban Exploration by Roadwolf
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So I went out to enjoy the wonderful weather today.  I didn’t know what to do, so I decided to try to watch some trains.  Having never watched trains in the Buffalo area before, it was a bit of a learning experience trying to find the best places to watch.  I am still looking for good places to watch, but I found a few alright crossings to sit at.

While on the way to watch trains, I came across 2 stranded motorists on the highway.  I stopped for both.  One of them was off to the shoulder, so I put a few flares out for him while he changed his tire.  The other was on a ramp, in the live lane.  Again…  They were out of gas.   This particular situation was causing a dangerous backup of traffic which extended onto the highway.  Cars were stopped on the highway itself as they waited to turn right in the right turn lane, which was blocked.  Of course motorists being..  motorists..  They were not really paying attention to a vehicle that wasn’t moving infront of them with hazard lights on.  Once I got on scene however, with my pylons deployed and my directional arrowstick functioning, the ramp cleared up nicely and traffic flowed properly.

After clearing that scene, I took a drive past a house on Goering Drive which I was interested in purchasing.  Sadly it has been sold, and it looks like a young guy about my age, who likes working on trucks lives there now, and is utilizing the many garages and workshop space the house has to offer.

Continuing on, I ended up stopping at Sheldon Ave to watch 2 CSX trains pass.  One was a Intermodal / Trailer / Container train heading Westbound on the South track.  The other was on the North track, and was a mixed consist train, heading Eastbound.  While watching trains, I saw a police officer chase a speeding car across the tracks.  I took a video of it, and you can see it here.

Look at all that ’snap-track’.  Have they heard of a device called a welder?

On the drive home, I monitored WA2JPQ and ended up talking to VE3WRD in Burlington.  I learnt that WA2JPQ is actually a very nice repeater located in Arkwright, NY on the WNYB Tower.  VE3WRD was able to key up the repeater in Burlington, Ontario, with almost full quieting using only a portable radio.  I am quite impressed with its coverage.

Tags: Buffalo Life, Ham Radio, Hobbies, Photography, Train Spotting, Volunteer Work by Roadwolf
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Blue LX4 LED lights, light up a country road.

I did some interesting photography lastnight.  I went out to a country road near Buffalo and took these photos of my lights.  I did have to edit them in photoshop a bit but otherwise they are pretty representative of what you can see with the naked eye while each light is active.  If you look close you can actually notice the fireflys in the photos.

This was a ‘control’ photo I took with only the amber running lights turned on.  This was a much longer exposure of about 30 seconds compared to the other exposures which were only 8 seconds and 4 seconds respectivly.

Taken from behind the Jeep, this photo is a guess at what the Jeep might look like to someone who is approaching it from behind while high on drugs or very drunk.

Light safety is always important.  Finding the right setup and flash pattern for your vehicle is very important.  I always test my lights under a variety of weather contitions for visibility and readability.  I also will squint my eyes to blurr the lights to see if they still make sense when distorted and blurred.

Ideally you want a light pattern which is not confusing.  Having too many lights is bad, and having too many different flash patterns going on at once is also bad.  Ideally you want to keep the rear of your vehicle in prespective, so it is easy to discern how far away the vehicle is.  Ensuring that 2 lights (one on either side) go on at the same time to provide frames of reference as to how wide your vehicle is, is always a good idea.

Also, mixing in different colors randomly is a bad idea.  If you do mix colors, make sure each color comes on in combination with other lights of the same color…  OR is restricted to one side of the vehicle.  An example of this is the traditional Red / Blue split.  This split is actually very effective.  However having blue mixed in randomly with red lights, is more distracting then anything.

You also must think about different levels of lighting.  In the photo above, you can clearly see the arrow bar, and you can clearly see the tail lights.   each light is a different level.  If I were to add light modules near the license plate, they would be on the same level as the running lights.  Therefore, I would have to sync them somehow, or ensure that the flash patterns complemented eachother.  Alternativly, if I were to add a roof bar, it would add a 3rd level of lighting, above the arrow bar.

A ‘level’ in my opinion, is a horizontal line of lighting across a vehicle.  Dark, unlit space (which is big enough to seperate glare from each light level) is considered a seperator.  Ideally, you should not have lights in these seperators – otherwise you run the risk of creating a situation where glare from the light in between the 2 levels, will make each level harder to read, which could be a problem if one of the levels is a arrow bar as in this case.

As far as I know, there is no official science on emergency lighting.  Therefore, this is my answer to ensuring that my vehicle is safe.

Tags: Photography, Volunteer Work by Roadwolf
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