- The locomotive graveyard of Haapamäki, it has been my long time dream to once get here. I heard the first rumors and stories about this place about a year ago and then in the summer I saw few pictures taken here. Then during the autumn and winter there was few articles in the newspapers about the fate of this place, one of the articles is actually on Silent Wall, translated from Finnish to English, if you like to look.

- So it took nearly a year to get myself traveling here. One of the difficulties was that this is located very far from the place where I live and the time and money that it took to get here, I just couldn't afford before. But thanks to my lovely fiancé who promised to get along and drive, we made it here relatively quickly.

- Finnish people probably know Haapamäki from the Steam Locomotive Park of Haapamäki and are now wondering, that why do I put a gallery to Silent Wall that just shows the museum? Well actually, the locomotive graveyard is located just right next to the museum, and if you look beyond the museum fence you might come to the same conclusion that I came, why pay few euros to get inside a museum, when you can look something a lot more interesting for free? The Steam Locomotive Park has also locomotives standing in the yard and few coaches, but same kind of locomotives and coaches are standing on the side tracks, under the mercy of the weather. There's no way that these locomotives can be renovated ever again, the metal parts have rusted completely and wooden parts have collapsed. It actually made me laugh when I saw few of the first locomotives here, when I thought about the article that stated: "You cannot judge the condition of a locomotive just by looking how the paint is still sticking to it" Yeah, never mind the paint, but when thick layers of metal have corroded completely and the locomotive brakes have rusted up to the wheels, I think I can call myself expert enough and say that these locomotives are gone and sadly enough, you cannot renovate them anymore.

- This was also the first time that I got very close to steam locomotives. I've seen a few passenger locomotives before, but never these huge freight locomotives. They are just absolutely huge. The wheels are taller than a man and while standing beside the locomotive and looking at the brakes, you wonder that did those relatively small looking brakes really stop this monster? Still the main feeling from this place is the sadness that's visible here. Yes we've saved few steam locomotives in the different museums and there's actually few of them in a working condition and are in use during the summer time. But I don't think that we've saved too many of these huge freight trains and I certainly would love to show these kind of locomotives to my kids someday, but I'm starting to be in a real hurry with the kids, if I want to show these locomotives to them, because the weather will finish these quite quickly.

- The vandals are not a problem here, as there's really no major city nearby and few houses are located quite close the side tracks, to watch this place. While being here, I only saw one graffiti and that's it. Also almost no signs of vandals wasn't around, few broken windows here and there, but that's a very small issue, when you think what would happen if this kind of place would be located in Helsinki or in some other major city.

- It would be razed to the ground during one weekend...

- All Aboard!

- Most of the coaches and locomotives are right next to the tracks that are still in use, so while being here, we had to continually look and listen, if there would be a train coming. Thankfully none came, as there's not that many trains using this route. Still it would have been nice to experience some freight or passenger train passing by very closely. I wonder what kind of noise the old coaches and locomotives would have kept... 

- One of the best looking passenger coaches. I've never actually traveled in these kind of coaches, but I've heard many stories told by my parents and grand-parents, how those wooden benches, were not the best one to sit during a long journey. Also the coaches during the summer time were very hot and especially the kids, would sit on the coaches ladders, with only one advice from the conductor: "Don't fall!"

- And then during the winter time, these coaches would have been freezing...

- "Experienced worker looks out for an open space"

- Don't ask, I don't have a clear answer what that sign warns about. I would guess that it has something to do with working in the railway yard, where you have to watch that you don't end up under a train while passing by a stationary trains from one track to another.