At the end of an overgrown small road was a badly bashed building, the railway station of Noormarkku. It was built in 1933, when a railroad was built between Pori and Haapamäki in Central Finland. Haapamäki we’ve of course already been to.
According to public sources the station contained a waiting room, an office room and a postal room. Passenger traffic ended in 1981 and the entire track to Kankaanpää was closed in 1985. Since then several bridges along the track have been demolished and it can’t be operated anymore.
The station building was protected at the time of my visit, but due to excessive vandalism the city wanted to demolish it. So far things hadn’t really advanced.
It really has been a while since trains have run here. But actually a few stops away is a place where you can rent a handcar and drive the track with it.
The station as seen from the platform. This is a typical 1930’s station building. Several have been built for example between Oulu and Kajaani or the Karelian track in Eastern Finland.
The doors weren’t just open. They had completely disappeared. One seems to be hiding behind the corner, though.
Ok, the ovens are destroyed. But what on earth is that chicken coop doing in the middle of the waiting room?
I actually wonder, if this has once been the ticket counter. Back in my youth at a very old railway station there was a glass between the ticket clerk and the customer. The customer placed their money on a tray, the clerk got it from under the glass and slid the ticket and the change in return.
Free hugs? I really could use one!
Despite serving passengers for only a couple of decades, the building seems to have undergone several renovations, where the colors of the walls have been changed and doors relocated.
The chicken coop still puzzles me.
As does the fate of the ovens. Who in the world would want to do that?
So this is the room where free hugs were promised. I don’t see any.
The oven here had met the same fate as the previous two. Those egg cartons actually make me wonder if someone did have a chicken coop here.
It seems that someone has lived here at some point. Or just dumped a bed inside.
These doors, I think, lead to the porch in the first picture.
All rooms in the building were accessible, but at this stage it was impossible to guess, which one had been the office and which one the post office.
Another destroyed oven. They really had smashed them all.
Another room with pink wallpaper.
One of the windows, through which light still came in.
More photos will follow in the next post.