"The Shining"

You do have to admit....it looks like an antiquated light fixture from days long ago.

That link is hillarious! I was looking for a light fixture above the sink, be-dazzled I was.

There is one more patient to be removed, but who dares to open the curtain??

The dreaded "suction" machine, a sick noise and much worse contents.

There is almost a symmetry at play here.

The suspension cables appear to be holding the horizon in-place, cut just one and the world will collapse on it-self.

Man!!! my world...oh my

I get the feeling that i'm falling and looking up as I go down.

You could stare at this for some time and still not be to sure of where you are at, amazing!!

Glad you ask Lynne, as if I don't gloat enough.
I'm a stationary engineer(high pressure boiler operator).
I found this site while looking for info on the Central Terminal boilers. I live not to far from the building and have been inside numerous times, but never got down to the machine area's, apparently it's been flooded for some time now.

Eventhough these boilers are dangerous, accidents are few due to the training and license requirements of the operators.

This site is amazing, not only does it contain a perspective on history, it includes architecture and when they are combined I get this warm fuzzy feeling inside.

The only reason I can think of is to keep sewer gas from backing into the building, it's up to the overflows, odd way of doing it though.

Those appear to be damper doors.
The rate of fire at the coal beds is controlled by the draft over and under the coal bed, hence the damper doors.
"Peabody" still makes combustion control devices and equipment.

Imagine the size of those boilers? probably 3 stories or more.

This looks like a pressure reducing station where high pressure steam is taken down to medium or low pressure for other uses.

The spaciousness of the area! and alone sits a fixture.
Man!! I love those archways.

The fire box blower is top center and the fire box is bottom center.
This is definitly a "Scotch Marine" fire tube boiler

This is a fire tube boiler, most likely a "Scotch Marine" type.
The tubes are called "passes, this is where the gases of combustion flow to heat the water contained inside the shell. What you see here is the rear door and tube sheet(the water is behind this tube sheet), the large opening is the first pass and the main fire chamber, the smaller openings are the other passes.
This appears to be a four pass boiler.

No fun and games makes Jack a dull boy

Where's Nurse Ratchet?

The memories. I learned to set type in high school (1982) - same class that taught me B&W photo processing. We had to memorize the layout of the type drawers - it was NOT alphabetical order! You NEVER wanted to drop one the heavy drawers of type on the floor, you 'd be looking at hours and hours of sorting.

Indeed, overly fitting song for an overly eery picture...

When I look at photos like this I always wonder if the person that last touched the object had any idea that it would never be used again.