Level
IV, the switchgear room, used to contain switchgear (basically large
industrial electrical breakers) motor controls (large industrial
on/off switches really), DC power generation, storage batteries,
transformers and rectifiers. Essentially all of that is gone
from 724-C and probably most of the sites since such equipment is very
useful and valuable in industrial applications.
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Mr.
X at 724-C E.T.#1 marveling at the unique support structure that holds
up the entire floor. And look, railings! Several sections
are missing but it provides a modicum of safety.
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What
remains is a random assortment of junk, mostly electrical in nature
and a covering of sand and dirt washed in from the surface by rain
water. This level has a lot of corrosion like level I and little
of the equipment has been left behind save for an air conditioning
unit and a heavy-duty battery rack devoid of batteries.
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Another
look at the spring beams and vertical supports on level IV. On the
left with scabrous and rusted-through paint is the ladder vestibule
offering access to the floor below.
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Stepping
back a bit, this shot gives a better look at the ladder vestibule at
724-C E.T.#3. Notice that the railings shown in the previous
picture are not present here. As always, watching one's step in
the old Titan sites is paramount. Hazards are many and varied in
these sites!
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The
ladder vestibule again, this time closer up. You can see intricate
and heavy cable trays that once held DC and AC power lines now leaning
against the wall. Next to the cable trays there are a couple of
the equipment access hatch cover panels extending into the open doorway
to the ladder down to level III.
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Looking
through a doorway behind the ladder vestibule in 724-C E.T.#1
There's a few more of those equipment access hatch covers laying on the
floor-- those things were everywhere except over the equipment access
hatches!
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Stepping
through the doorway: to the left is the shaft for the personnel
elevator. A very sturdy battery rack sets in the background.
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A
battery rack that once held some rather large and heavy batteries.
This rack probably held around a ton of weight in batteries alone.
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A
sign posted on the wall of the elevator shaft opposite the battery rack
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A
view with chilled ethylene glycol supply and return lines at left and
the elevator shaft at right. The battery rack is at center behind
the conduit and supports at center. Note the sign shown in the
previous photo hanging on the wall on the right.
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Looking
at the AC unit and the elevator shaft (at right), this unit maintained
the temperature on level IV.
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Looking
further to the left: AC unit and junk laying on the floor
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Looking
down from level IV into level III. The vinyl tile flooring is
still visible here
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Another
inter-floor view from level IV to level III
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Looking
up from near the elevator shaft at the 10' diameter equipment access
hatch in the ceiling. This is where most of the water has leaked
in over the decades after the scrappers put the hatch cover haphazardly
back in place.
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Inside
the personnel elevator shaft: it would appear that the scrappers used
these timbers to hoist scrap between levels and then up and out through
the access hatch to the surface. These timbers are wedged in
between the elevator shaft and the rattle space on level IV.
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Looking
down the elevator shaft. The elevator car is just visible
(partially) below
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A
scene of random clutter on level IV
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Cable
tray, glycol plumbing, conduit and junk on level IV
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One
final look at 724-C E.T.#3. This may well be how it looks for the
next 100 years unless someone comes in and cleans up the site for some
sort of commercial use.
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So
ends our look at the equipment terminals. Who can say what the future
holds for the Titan sites? Will someone manage to clean up and make
use of these massive relics of the awful Cold War era of fear and military
posturing?
Two
great nations spent unfathomable fortunes on the concepts of deterrence and
Mutually Assured Destruction. A potential nightmare of nuclear
destruction was averted in the Cuban Missile Crisis, but neither player can
really be considered a winner.
Once
again, the old tensions, never really absent entirely, seem to be
slowly simmering and it is clear even after all these years that the
role of the ICBM and its terrible payload has not diminished as a
strategic weapon and deterrent to war.
