All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S08E06.Cathedral.Of.Sewage.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Tom ward (narrates):
A breathtaking tower

in the forests of Croatia.

If this was in any town
or city in the world,

it would make for an
extraordinary landmark.

A groundbreaking
complex in New York City.

It's quite a mystery
what this is,

it has this big
hanger-like feel,

something like I've
never seen before.

A columbian ghost
town reclaimed by nature.

They've almost been sucked
down in to the earth beneath them.

It's quite an eerie place.

And a majestic facility on
the banks of the river thames.

As you enter, you can really
feel the grandiosity of this place.

It's almost cathedral-like.

Decaying relics.

Ruins of lost worlds.

Sites haunted by the past.

Their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

(Dramatic music)

On the edge of New York harbour

is a colossal,
modern-looking building.

This one you can't miss.

Even from miles away,
you can see this structure

is absolutely enormous.

You actually come to realise
that there are two buildings

that are linked by these
huge hovering Bridges.

Only when entering inside
does its abandoned state

become clear.

Its purpose however,
is anything but.

In the centre of the building
is this giant atrium that goes up

for several storeys

and there is railroad tracks
that run right through it.

But then it has these
strange protuberances,

these balconies
jutting out of the walls.

Something like I've
never seen before.

This building was a response

to an unparalleled
logistical challenge.

There's probably few
buildings in the world that saw

so many people come
in and out of its doors.

And unfortunately, many of those

who passed through
the doors of this place

never came back alive.

In 1917, the United States
entered the first world war,

but fighting on battle fields

thousands of miles away
posed an unprecedented problem.

The us had a huge
logistical challenge

of getting tens of
thousands of troops

and thousands and thousands
of tonnes of equipment,

food, and supplies back
and forth across the Atlantic.

An army of two million
needed to be raised

and shipped across the ocean.

To achieve this mammoth task,

they designed this
extraordinary complex.

In so many areas this
building is a record breaker,

and the reason for that is its
incredibly innovative design.

This is the Brooklyn army terminal,
and the man behind its creation

was the renowned
architect cass Gilbert.

Now, cass Gilbert
is really well known

for designing buildings like
the Neo-gothic skyscraper,

the woolworth building.

This is obviously a
very different building,

very utilitarian.

Andrew gustafson is an expert
on the history of the structure.

This building was built entirely
out of reinforced concrete

and when it was built it was
the largest concrete building

in the world.

You can see it
was built with floors,

you know, almost
10 inches thick.

The concrete structure
was so robust it

was rated to handle 250
pounds per square foot.

They actually allowed the workers
to drive around in military jeeps

and you can still see some
of the speed limit signs today.

This was a vast logistical
hub that would carry

urgently needed troops,
weapons, and supplies

to the trenches of
Western Europe.

And at its heart was the atrium.

This was designed to be
the main cargo handling area

for the facility,

this was an indoor rail-yard
where you could drive

two trains directly
in to the building

and overhead used to have glass

so, it could operate 24/7
year round regardless

of the weather.

These trains would pull in
and they would unload them

on to this central platform,
and then above us,

we also have a pair of old 5
tonne electric gantry cranes.

So, these cranes could be
positioned over that cargo,

they would lower
a cable, pick it up,

and then they would
drop it into these balconies.

It was really a marvel,

it had 96 centrally
controlled freight elevators,

giving it just amazing
logistical potential.

And it was the most
advanced freight terminal

in the world at the time.

The cargo wasn't
just here to be stored.

It needed to be moved in
and out at a moment's notice.

For this, cass Gilbert
designed something unique.

So, we're standing
in the sky-bridge,

essentially they built

a whole separate
grade on the third level

that connected warehouse
a out to the piers.

The idea was that once
you loaded a piece of cargo

in to the warehouse

it never touched the ground again
until it was loaded on to a ship.

It meant that the army
terminal had the capabilities

to do inter-modal shipping.

There's no sort of
barrier in between

where things have
to be offloaded,

carried to the pier
and then loaded again,

they come straight from
the train and on to the ship.

Vastly speeding up the
process of supplying armies

or transporting troops.

It was a ground-breaking
site built in record time.

This massive 4 million
square foot facility of piers

and wharfs and
warehouses and terminals

was constructed
over just 17 months.

4 million square
feet in 17 months!

And yet it wasn't quick enough,

the summer offensives of
1918 led by britain and France

had bought Germany to its knees.

By Autumn, allied victory
was all but complete

with 10,000 American troops
arriving in France every day.

But not one of them
came through this complex.

United States joined
the war in April of 1917

but didn't get its
first troops into battle

until June of 1918,
so, we were planning

on a 1919 campaign,

but the war ends in 1918, so,
what do you do with this place?

Completed in September 1919,

they had missed the
war by 10 months.

But it wasn't long before
the government found

a new enemy of the state,

this time internally, and
it would give the terminal

a new lease of life.

Prohibition starts
in early 1920,

and all of a sudden,

the federal government is
mobilising tonnes of resources

to fight the scourge of alcohol.

They confiscated
an awful lot of liquor

in the city of New York,
a lot of it was stored here.

At any given time
during prohibition,

there was something like
a quarter of a billion dollars

in today's dollars

worth of confiscated
drugs and alcohol

in these big buildings.

In fact, at one point, they
had so much they started

to dispose of it through
a hole in the dock.

One new yorker had a cunning
plan to exploit the situation.

Now, one day in 1927,

when they opened
up that hole in the pier,

they discovered strings
of about 20 buckets

that were hanging on
wires underneath that hole,

so, someone had actually
rode underneath the pier,

strung up those buckets,
waited for them to dump out

that slurry of beer and wine.

I don't know what
they would advertise it,

as but probably some
pretty unpleasant stuff.

The terminal proved a useful
tool in the fight against alcohol,

but its original wartime design
was about to be put to the test.

Most Americans had
regarded world war one

as the war to end all wars
but then December 7, 1941

the Japanese
attacked Pearl harbour,

sinking most of the
American pacific fleet.

America suddenly finds
itself in a world war again.

With world war ii

you really have the
Brooklyn army terminal

coming sort of full circle

so to speak to fulfil
its original purpose.

The first two major
deployments of the us army

following the attack
on Pearl harbour

both started right here
on January 15, 1942,

operation magnet began
and so this was a deployment

of about 4,000 us army
troops going from Brooklyn

to Belfast northern Ireland to
help reinforce the British there.

Just about a week
after operation magnet,

we had another task-force
that was assembled

that was bringing the
first American troops

into the pacific theatre.

Over the course of the war,
3.2 million military personnel

moved through this building

and 37 million
tonnes of equipment.

The Brooklyn army terminal
became the largest supply base

anywhere in the world
during world war ii.

The terminal also holds
another sobering record.

It was the solemn
duty and responsibility

of the Brooklyn army terminal

to actually receive the
remains of Americans killed

in the European theatre.

In fact, 140,000 Americans came
back to the Brooklyn army terminal,

that represents about
3/4 of all of the Americans

whose remains were
repatriated to the United States.

Although the second world
war came to an end in 1945,

the terminal's work
didn't stop there.

This really became, you
know, the major military port

on the east coast but
also there was this,

you know, routine rotation
of troops coming in and out

of Europe during the cold war.

And one of the
more famous soldiers

to depart from the
terminal was Elvis Presley.

(Up-tempo music)

He's drafted in to the military
and what he decides to do

is rather than serve
in special services

which would have
enabled him to perform

as a musician and
entertain troops,

he actually decides to
enlist as a regular soldier.

So, he goes through basic
training and in September 1958,

he decides to hold this
massive press scene

at Brooklyn army
terminal before he departs.

This is a huge PR and
marketing moment for the us army

that this massive rock star
was putting his career on pause

to serve his country.

Despite its once
revolutionary design,

the terminal's days
were numbered.

In 1966, it was
forced out of business,

outdated by the advent
of containerised shipping.

Yet its strength and
design has ensured

that the Brooklyn army
terminal still has a future.

It's a sign of how well made
and functional this building is,

that even though much of it
has sat empty for decades,

parts of it are now being reused

and new businesses are moving
in, restaurants, start up companies,

so some corners of this complex
are actually thriving with new life.

In rural Columbia, in the
shadow of the andes mountains,

a site lies shattered

and semi-hidden
in the undergrowth.

You've got sort of roads
that sometimes appear

to lead nowhere
or just disappear.

And then you've got
buildings either side that seem

to have almost been
engulfed by the ground.

Everything is really
odd, you don't know

if the ground has risen up or if
the buildings have sunk down.

I mean, when you
look in a bit more detail,

it's clearly not just
one or two buildings,

there's whole streets of buildings
that seem to be half missing,

partly destroyed.

The roofs have been removed off
many and the walls are caving in.

This isn't just the ravages
of time that's done this.

Whatever happened here
didn't just destroy the buildings.

There are crosses, gravestones,
and shrines everywhere.

People must have died here,
and by the sheer number of shrines,

we're talking hundreds
if not thousands.

Columbia has a really tumultuous

and dangerous history, was
this war? Was this violence?

Or was this something else?

And this is one of
the worst disasters

of this kind in human history,

it's certainly up there as
one of the most dramatic.

This is the town of armero.

When Freddy Gutierrez lived
here, it was a thriving community.

(Speaks foreign language)

At its height, this town was
home to around 30,000 residents.

Freddy lived here with his
parents and two brothers.

(Speaks foreign language)

Overnight this town was
transformed from a place of life

and vitality into a wasteland,

and the reason lay
45 miles to the west.

We are in the plateaus
of nevado del ruiz,

which completely dominates

the landscape.

Although the volcano had
been silent for decades,

in 1984 all that
started to change.

There were signs it was
starting to come back to life.

The first sign was tremors,
and then the following march,

a UN seismologist actually
observed a 500ft vapour column

and determined that
this was a precursor

to a massive eruption.

By October 1985,

a fairly detailed hazard
map had been put together

and it was clear
that they'd outlined

a number of places

that should or needed
to be evacuated.

At the centre of
that map lay armero.

And the damage would
likely be catastrophic

due to the unique
features of this volcano.

It's some 17,400 plus feet high

and even though
it's near the equator,

because of its height, its
upper parts and its peak

is covered in snow and ice.

If you impart hot volcanic
material on to snow and ice,

you very quickly
turn it into water

and you can mix that
loose volcanic material

into almost like what
we call a volcanic slurry,

and this phenomenon called
a lahar can be quite deadly.

The hazard map
placed armero directly

in the firing line
of these lahars,

but what the geologist predicted
and what the residents were told

were two very different things.

The map met with
criticism from the authorities

because they felt that
it was too alarming,

and so they decided
not to widely distribute it

amongst the population.

Armero's residents were
completely unprepared

for what was coming their way.

The possibility of
lahars was high,

and geologists
predicted that any magma

coming through the summit
could have devastating effects.

They desperately urged
local officials to evacuate,

but it seems that their
warnings fell on deaf ears.

Six weeks after the hazard
map had been produced

and the evacuation of
armero first recommended,

disaster struck.

On November 13, 1985,
black ash began to spew

out of the volcano and
immediately geologists demanded

the evacuation of armero
and the neighbouring villages.

Despite this, radio armero
called for residents not to panic

and stay in their homes,

a message echoed
by the town's priest

over the church's loudspeakers.

Just after 9:00pm,
the volcano blew.

With a massive storm raging
and lashing rain outside,

few heard the warning signs.

As predicted,

the eruption produced
pyroclastic flows

that melted the summit glaciers

and snow creating
four thick lahars.

But these were far worse than
anyone could have ever imagined.

(Speaks foreign language)

Freddy's parents
didn't hang around,

they grabbed their three
children, fled the house

and headed down the street,
ash falling in the darkness.

(Speaks foreign language)

Lahars cascading in to
the West Side of town,

but Freddy was a mile
from the initial impact

and they pushed north
towards the church.

(Speaks foreign language)

Within minutes, 85% of the town

was covered in mud and debris.

The sheer volume and speed
of the mud-flows was astounding.

(Speaks foreign language)

Many were swept
away or pulled under

and suffocated by the
thick mud of the lahars.

(Speaks foreign language)

Soon they heard
a familiar voice.

It was a local man taking
refuge on a nearby roof.

And he helped them
climb the trees to safety.

(Speaks foreign language)

Huddled together, they
prepared to see out the night.

No idea what scene
awaited them in the morning.

(Speaks foreign language)

Freddy and his family
survived the night on the rooftop

as everything around them
was consumed by mud.

They were rescued the next day,

but after a disastrous
relief operation,

around 23,000 people
are believed to have died,

many of their bodies
were never found.

It had been the deadliest
lahar in recorded history.

It erupted some 35
million tonnes of material,

but that's only about 3% to 4%

of what came out of the
famous mount st Helen's eruption

in 1980.

So, in many ways,
it was a relatively

small explosive volcanic event,

but if you couple that with
the hot material landing

on snow and ice, when
you then funnel that power

down the river valleys,
you can turn something

that's a relatively small
eruption into a deadly lahar.

The towns buildings,
most destroyed or buried,

some still visible but half
sunken are testament to its power.

It serves as a warning that
ignoring advice of scientists

is a dangerous game.

This is a really
devastating story,

and it should be
a stark reminder

to us in the present day
that we should not gamble

with people's lives.

The only small positive
to come out of this

was that after the disaster,

the government did create
an office to promote awareness

of natural disasters.

The remains of armero are
preserved as a memorial to those

who died on that fateful night,

and for the survivors the
events of the 13 November 1985

are always with them.

(Speaks foreign language)

12 miles east of central London
on the banks of the river thames

is a diamond in the rough.

This location is
far from appealing,

and I speak as a fan
of the city of London,

this site is not
easy on the eye.

But inside is a building
very much at odds

with its setting.

You have this magnificent
arched doorway,

but you'd never imagine
what lays beyond that doorway,

it's a complete contrast

to the really industrial
nature of the surrounding area.

The first time you
walk into this building,

it's like walking in to one
of the great cathedrals.

It really does have a
feeling of grandiosity about it,

all those ornate ironwork
interiors with vivid bright colours.

Some of the machinery
in this place is huge

and you can tell that this place

was of some
significance at its time.

The site played a
vital role in the growth

of what was the
largest city in the world.

This wasn't just a
well designed complex.

It also housed a
public health solution.

This is really one of the
most magnificent feats

of victorian engineering
and yet most people,

even though it's
right under their feet,

have never seen it and
know that much about it.

One day in 1989, I got
a strange phone call,

it turned out from a small
group of retired engineers.

And they said,
"we're trying to restore

"one of your great, great
grandfather's places.

"Come and have a look."

Peter bazalgette arrived
at a decrepit facility,

left abandoned for decades.

When I first came into
this mysterious place,

it hadn't been properly used
since the second world war,

it was rusting away
full of dead pigeons.

I was overawed by
the grandeur of it.

But sadly, it was a
decaying grandeur.

Neglected in this
industrial wasteland,

Peter joined forces with a
team of retired engineers

and set about saving this
forgotten piece of heritage.

When I was a kid in
the 1950s and '60s,

I knew I had a
very famous relative

from the victorian
age, nobody else did.

We didn't value what the
victorians had done for us.

That's very different today.

Designed by his
great, great grandfather,

sir Joseph bazalgette

and still boasting the biggest
rotative beam engines in the world,

it was the product
of a health crisis

in mid-19th century London.

In London's poor east side,
construction and sanitation

were completely unregulated,

and London became
known as a city of two halves

with the wealthy
being able to afford

to escape to the cleaner
air of west London.

In the poor half, you
had a dense population,

crammed together in tiny
houses with rats and sewage

running between them down
the narrow cobbled streets.

You didn't have
clean running water,

you had houses that
were infested with vermin,

and people living
just cheek to jowl,

crowded with one another in
very, very unhealthy conditions.

These were the victorian slums.

But soon enough,
even those in the west

couldn't escape the
smell of human excrement.

The long hot summer of 1858
caused a horrendous stench

to emanate from
London's mighty river.

It was known as the great stink.

The smell began wafting
into buildings everywhere

including the
houses of parliament.

And because they still
believed in the miasma theory,

that disease was spread
by air or bad smells,

they all thought their own
health was at serious risk.

Cholera had been ravaging
London's population for decades,

sewage pumped
directly into the river

was spreading the disease,

but through the water supply

not through the
air as they believed.

Cholera is a highly
infectious disease

that is spread through water

that has been contaminated
by faecal matter.

Physician John snow had
made the connection years earlier

and understood that this
was a waterborne disease,

but even by 1858, few
accepted his findings.

These politicians literally believed
that they were inhaling diseases,

so, that was really the
last straw to get them to act

and to commission
bazalgette to begin his project.

Bazalgette's task
was to clean up the city

and prevent the
spread of disease.

Joseph bazalgette
was the chief engineer

of the metropolitan
board of works,

and his first job in this
relatively new organisation

was to fix London's
sewage problem.

And his plan was
to run main sewers

from the west of
the city to the east.

And those sewers would
run parallel to the thames

but keep the sewage
out of the thames.

The whole system
consisted of 1,300 miles

and 82 miles of west-east
intercepting sewers.

For seven years
Joseph bazalgette dug up

the whole of London,

he had to cross railway
lines, he had to cross canals,

he had to redesign
the centre of London,

he had to build an
embankment on the river thames

to take one of the main sewers.

I imagine everybody in those
days was cursing Joseph bazalgette

for disrupting London,
but not after 1865

when it was all finished
and London was cleansed

because his sewage
system was trailblazing,

it was an innovation.

It showed how a
modern city could work.

But how did this building fit in
to that revolutionary system?

The network of sewers
carried the city's waste water

to two vast pumping
and filtration systems

either side of the thames

just east of the
metropolitan conurbation.

One of those was
the pumping station

here at crossness.

Well, this flywheel belongs to
a rotative steam beam engine,

in fact there are
four in this building,

the four largest ever
built ever in the world,

and they're named after the
members of the British royal family,

queen Victoria, prince Albert,
Alexandra, one of their daughters,

and bertie, one of their sons.

The four massive engines
at crossness pump sewage

into a reservoir that
held 25 million gallons.

The sewage was then
released with the ebb tide

so, it flowed safely out to sea.

The opening ceremony in 1865
was held here with great pomp.

The pumping station

became known as
the cathedral of sewage

and in a fashion
typical of ceremonies

in the capital of
imperial britain,

it was opened with a grand
ceremony, possibly the most lavish meal

ever served inside
a sewage facility.

Just look at this!

Some of the finest victorian
wrought ironwork ever commissioned.

And it shows one thing
about the victorians,

immensely proud of public works,

this was a building essentially
for pumping excrement,

London's odour.

But they were so
proud of the public effort

of cleansing London

that they did this to show
what a great enterprise it was.

For 80 years, the beam
engines at crossness turned,

but after the second world war

more advanced engines
left them redundant,

but thanks to a
group of enthusiasts,

crossness found
a new lease of life.

With all of the colours
and intricate metal design,

it's clear that a lot of work
went into this restoration project.

The trust decided to intervene
and restore part of the building

and also to restore
one of the engines

and now it can be seen
operating in all its former glory.

30 years after I
first walked in here

and thanks to the
extraordinary efforts

of the members of the
crossness engines trust,

determined to preserve
this place and celebrate it,

we now have a living museum,
a living steam museum.

And if you look at this
magnificent beam arm

of this restored engine,

look at the way it's painted,
look at the majesty of it,

you can tell that today
we really appreciate

what the victorians did
and how they really created

modern society that
we still rely on today.

While this pumping
station has been restored,

parts of bazalgette's
system never went out of use.

So, they're building
a new super sewer

not to replace but to
complement Joseph's system.

That the intercepting sewers
are still in use 150 years later,

it's really a testament
to the overall build quality

of the system as it was
originally constructed.

60 miles south of Zagreb in
the wooded hills of petrova gora,

a dazzling building sits
high on a mountain peak.

The building almost
swallows you whole.

It's simply otherworldly.

It looks modern, it makes
you think of something

that would be in a city,

but this is in the mountains
in the middle of nowhere.

As you venture in, you
realise it is just as modern

and abstract inside.

This is something that you
merge into as you would come

into a place of worship.

Although there aren't any
windows it's surprisingly light inside.

The offset slices allow streams
of light to flood in from above.

It's not some abandoned
industrial works,

but it's on an
industrial scale almost,

it's just this really
perplexing building

that looks out of place.

These vast concrete curves
covered in stainless steel,

spiralling up
120ft in to the sky

make for an
extraordinary landmark.

Somebody is trying to make
a point with this structure.

But what was its purpose?

And why has such a striking
landmark seemingly been left to ruin?

Cedomir studen
is a local historian

and custodian of this
remarkable complex.

(Speaks foreign language)

The reason for its
existence can be unearthed

from the woods it overlooks.

This huge towering building
dominates the hillside,

but it's not the
only structure here.

When you start
exploring, you come across

some more abandoned
buildings, very deep in the woods.

These buildings
are scattered about,

and when you go inside

it's clear that people
once lived here.

Those that filled
these empty cabins

were engaged in a
desperate fight for survival.

Part of an ethnic
conflict that dates back

to the inter-war period.

Between the first and
second world wars,

there was constant fighting

amongst the various ethnic
groups that comprised yugoslavia.

At the forefront of
the power struggle

were the right wing
fascist group, the ustase.

The Croatian ustase
believed that croats

were ethnically superior

to especially Serbs.

Many croat nationalists
supported the ustase

because they believe
that this was a ticket

to independence from Serbia.

When the Nazis invaded
yugoslavia in April 1941,

the ustase were
their natural allies.

The Nazis were very happy

to contribute to
the disintegration

of the kingdom of yugoslavia

and to take the Croatian part

and turn it into a puppet state

that was ruled by the ustase.

The Nazis didn't have to go

and repress anyone in Croatia

because the ustase
did it for them.

For a brief moment,

the Croatians
had their own state

away from yugoslavia,

but it wasn't so
much a Croatian state

as it was a terrorist state

of this brutal militia.

But their dominance was
about to be challenged.

Hidden in the thick
forest of petrova gora,

a number of settlements
were being built.

(Speaks foreign language)

Those behind it were the
kordun partisan detachment,

part of the people's
liberation army of yugoslavia,

and at the helm was one of
history's most notorious leaders.

The kordun partisan detachment
wasn't just led by anyone.

It was led by a figure who
would become a major player

in 20th century politics.

Joseph braus who
was also known as tito.

He's a communist and
envisions a yugoslavia

that is going to share
that political ideology.

To over throw the ustase
tito needed an army

and secure bases
to operate from.

They needed to
have headquarters,

they needed to have hospitals
to look after their wounded,

they needed places
to collect weapons

and the wooden
hills of petrova gora,

the Peter mountains
were an ideal place for this.

(Speaks foreign language)

Using guerrilla tactics
they ambushed the ustase

from their bases
deep in the woods,

while recruiting more
Serbs to join their cause.

(Speaks foreign language)

For the partisans to survive

it was essential their
stronghold remained hidden.

(Speaks foreign language)

This 30-building strong
hospital masked a network

of underground bunkers,

capable of sheltering
hundreds of soldiers.

It wasn't long though
before the ustase

had the stronghold of petrova
gora firmly in their sights.

In early April 1942

there was a sudden
breakthrough of defences,

ustase forces stormed
multiple partisan positions

around petrova gora.

Given that these ethnic
Serbs only had crude weapons

and pitchforks, given
that they were going

against armed soldiers,
they really stood no chance.

(Speaks foreign language)

The ustase continued
their vicious attempts

to cleanse the region of Serbs,

yet this hospital
was never discovered

and the tide of war soon
turned in tito's favour.

The partisans may
have lost this fight,

but over the course of the
war they did gain ground.

Backed by their communist
allies around the world

and later the British
and their allies,

by the end of the war,
when the Germans retreated

much of the area was
under tito's control.

(Dramatic music)

Tito's prestige as the man

who led the
opposition to the Nazis

and to the ustase

made him a national hero
across what was yugoslavia.

Under tito's firm grip,

yugoslavia was
bought back together

and for many years
there was relative peace

between the ethnic groups.

This structure was built
as a symbolic Phoenix

rising from the ashes of war.

(Speaks foreign language)

The stainless steel
panels are hugely reflective

and this effect symbolises
light overcoming darkness.

Within the structure
was originally a museum

which housed hundreds of
documents, relics, and artefacts

related to the
battle and the history

of the ethnic Serbian
struggles in the region.

But just before it
opened in 1981, tito died

and with him the
peace he had bought.

Ethnic divisions resurfaced
and in 1991 war again erupted.

With the onset of
the Yugoslav wars,

the monument falls
into disrepair, it's looted,

it is defaced, so, it
has a really sad ending.

Today yugoslavia
is a distant memory,

but the monument
that still stands here

tells a story that must
never be forgotten.

(Speaks foreign language)

Captioned by
ai-media ai-media. TV