Abandoned Warehouse - 25 July 2020

Not very special to visit. Several large vacant spaces. Clear evidence that it is a makeshift airsoft gun location. Not worth to come here especially for this.

Water Pumping Station - 28 March 2020

The water pumping station was built in 1955 to drain water from the Beatrix coal mine. After the mine closure in 1962, the pumping station was transferred to the water supply company WML. The WML used the pumping station until 2004. The building and the surrounding land were then sold and the new owner would demolish the building. But the new owner went bankrupt and the demolition was canceled. Since then, the building has been empty and has become a bat house.

Train Station As - 6 September 2019

The train station is located on the former railway line 21 and was opened in 1878. At the beginning of the 20th century the station was with the arrival of the coal mines expanded and the side wings were extended and connecting tracks were laid. The station of As became in 1921 the starting point of the coal trains. Passenger transport was stopped in 1959 and freight transport in 1983. The station remained in use until 1985 as a drop-off point for packages. The station itself was restored in 1996 and it now houses a catering location.
 
The track was used until 2015 by an association that used historic trains. After the trains were forbidden to ride due to the poor condition of the track, all the equipment waits for better times.

Train Station Raeren  - 1 September 2019

Raeren station is a former railway station along railway line 48 and 49. This trainstation was opened on 3 August 1887. As a railway line it is the most important connection between Aachen and Luxembourg until the First World War . After the First World War, international relations changed and the importance of the so-called Vennbahn and the various side lines gradually declined. The station was closed for passenger transport in 1959. In 1989 the last freight train runs through Raeren.
 
 A company was established on the yard that refurbishes old locomotives. After this company was resold a few times, it went bankrupt around 2010. The trains that are still there were owned by this company. Since 2014, the Raeren station building, the two signal boxes, the turntable and the other railway infrastructure are listed as protected site.

The Station Raeren cannot be called a real Urbex location, but despite this it is a nice location for taking photos. There are still a few old train wagons.

Abattoir De Lokery - 2 January 2019

The former slaughterhouse was owned by the city and established in the 1960s and sold to a private company in 1998. 200 employees worked in the peak years. The company invested heavily, but went bankrupt in 2006, partly due to the dioxin crisis. As a result, the building was once again in the hands of the city. After this, the slaughterhouse was taken over by two other companies. But in 2017, the definitive closure followed. The activities were moved to a new location and the last 60 employees were dismissed. The plan is to build houses at the site.

This location was demolished in the 2nd quarter of 2019.

Gare De Herbesthal - 17 December 2018

The train station itself was built in 1841. In 1855 a new post distribution center was added a few hundreds of meters further down the railroad. In 1920 this post distribution center was the most used in Europe, up to 1,000 mail bags per day were processed. During World War I and World War II this station played a major role, it is close to the German border so the Germans took over the station in no time. Apparently, more than 70,000 Belgians have been sent into Germany via this station. After the Second World War the post office was returned to Belgium government, but train traffic was completely flat on these lines. It was not until 1947 that the first trains started to use this again. Around 1950 the lines were switched to electric tracks, these were ready on May 22, 1966. This was also the end for the post distribution center, and it had to close its doors on 7 August 1966. Throughout its past years, the location has also served as a storage facility for Pacific class SNCB/SNCB Type 1S, an international luxury train.

For a starting Urbexer a great location. Is not difficult to enter and slightly remote. The large warehouse is apparently used by an Air Soft association - take this into account.

Mission to Mars - 5 October 2018

A location of old greenhouses with a spherical construction. The Urbex name comes from this spherical appearance. Most of these spherical glass greenhouses are made in pairs of 4 or 5. On the site there are about 5 of these contiguous buildings. These weird constructs were actually part of a horticultural nursery (i.e. a garden) ostensibly ran by the regional employment agency to retrain unemployed persons into the discipline of commercial gardening, to put them back into the labor market. As usual, when government agencies are involved, money is no subject and things have to prestigious or stand out. So rectangular glass boxes, as the general population knows them, were out in favor of geodetic ones. Not entirely sure when they were built, but they’ve fallen in disuse in 2010. 

Four à la Chaux Ampsin - 21 September 2018

In 1856, the first lime kilns were built in the area. The lime production increased in size and around 1890 the company 'Dumont-Wautier' was created. The location of the visited factory was originally an in 1897 built forge. Around this forge was in 1951 a hydration workshop created and two years later the lime production was completely mechanized and the old lime kiln came to a standstill. In the late nineties, the production was shut down and since then the factory has been empty.

Aachener-Vylener Cement Factory - 3 June 2018

On 18 June 1875, Willem van Reij (pharmacist from Vaals), Jacob Kalf (architect from Aachen) and Hendrik Scheins (merchant from Aachen) were granted permission to build a cement factory in Vijlen. During the First World War the company was very profitable. In 1914 for imported cement, fourteen guilders was paid and in 1918 one hundred and twenty guilders, so nearly tenfold. In 1917 the production capacity was therefore increased from 8,000 to 15,000 tons per year. In 1919, as a result of the decreasing demand for cement, the production of the factory stopped. In 1922 the cement factory came into the hands of a German owner to revive it. After an accident in the same year, in which two people died, the factory was immediately closed and in 1927 the demolition of the cement factory was started. 

On 1 December 1927, the E.N.C.I. bought the factory and tried to make it profitable again. However, the machines in the factory were outdated and sales became increasingly unprofitable. On 16 June 1929 the company was definitively shut down. The site was sold to farmer, under the condition that no more industry would be established. The factories were largely demolished around 1935. During the Second World War, the remains of the factory were further 'broken down' by the occupiers.

Poudreries Réunies de Belgique - 21 May 2018

PRB, short for Poudreries Réunies de Belgique SA was one of Belgium’s oldest and largest manufacturers of munitions, once the second-largest Belgium armaments manufacturer. The company indirectly started in 1778 as a gunpowder factory. By its 200th anniversary in 1979 it had 73 factories throughout the world, with the headquarters in Brussels.

This site was established in 1886, employed up to 400 people and was specialized in explosives for the mining industry. The site consists of many buildings and bunkers. Besides some laboratories there were many explosion-proof rooms and buildings where the products were tested.

PRB finally went bankrupt in 1993 after being demilitarized in 1990. Several parts of the site were sold to different private companies.

Gare de Hombourg - 2 January 2018

The train station in Hombourg was opened in 1895 along the railway line 38. In 1962 the station closed its doors. After 19 years of vacancy, it was bought up in 1981 with the intention to start a railway museum there. For the time being, he has made a catering business in the old station.
  

The Station Hombourg cannot be called a real Urbex location. The property is privately owned and this is also indicated with signs. But despite this it is a paradise for photographers. There are dozens of old train wagons on the track that you can see from close up. Anyone who continues the track can find more wagons.

Gare de Montzen - 2 January 2018

The train station in Montzen was built during the First World War by the Germans along the railway line Tongeren-Aachen. To be correct, actually built by Russian prisoners of war. Construction began in 1915 and the station was completed in 1917/1918. Due to the growth of the seaports and the transport by rail, the station and marshalling area in 1930 was extended by the Belgian state. The passenger line was disbanded in 1952 and it was then only used for freight transport. The years of vacancy have left their mark, unfortunately nothing is left because of vandalism. The trains that were there once were taken away and there is a lot of graffiti.

This location is perfect location for starting Urbexers, you can very quietly go ahead, there are no fences where you have to stop by to enter, so it will not happen quickly that you get problems when you are inside. Upon arrival at the building it is rather impressive, it looks extremely large, an elongated building. Once inside it is not too bad, it is a fairly small train station. The lines of the large station hall are interesting to photograph.