I can certainly vouch for a substancial steam tunnel system at Penn State. From what I've been able to determine, there are many tunnels are heavily fragmented into small inter-building runs. I *know* there are larger main-line passages (with utility rooms), but have not been successful in my many attempts to find open access to one. I expect I'll probably need to infiltrate the actual Office of Physical Plant buidling. Now that I have a good camera and some [natural] caving experience, I'll probably be more ambitious in my efforts. Keep you posted.

Pond Lab Building - PSU UP Campus Last updated/verified: 11/20/97

Pond Laboratory has a few interesting points worth mentioning. First off, Pond is the Computer Science Department's new home turf. Back in 1992 or so, they moved from the 3rd floor of Whitmore Lab across the quad to Pond, refinishing much of the building in the process. Prior to that point, Pond was a biochem lab of some sort; some vestiges of that era still remain (more of this later). Today, there's lots of interesting computer hardware (if you happen to find that sort of thing interesting) in the building, including, I'm told, hardware ranging from IBM XTs to SGI MIPs 10000-based "super" workstations. And lots of Sun hardware in between.

Pond is normally used by a wide range of people: Undergraduate and Graduate students, staff, faculty, administration, and OPP workers. Each type tends to stay in their own area, but for the most part, it's safe to wander a bit without attracting much attention. Pond has a above-average number of card readers for access-- every lab, many of the offices, and even the three main entrances to Pond use card readers. Chances are good that the entrance doors will be locked outside of normal weekday class hours.

Anyway, on to the building itself..

Pond is a "three story structure." Of course, this means there's a basement, first, second, and third floor, as well as maintenance and roof levels, making a total of six different levels. It was built back when brick and steel construction was the way to go (late 1920's/early 1930's ?) so is pretty crumbly. Many doors are old, and maintenance areas are.. brittle and covered with seventy years worth of dust and debris.

By floor:

B: Several rooms in the north wing are used as equipment storage space for the CSE department. In the central hallway area, large electric coils (huge electromagnets?) have been sitting for several years, presumably part of a former imaging lab. There's also what appears to have been a calimetry lab along the western wall in this central section, now used for storage of electrical 'junk' in three rows of filing cabinets. In the southern wing is an OPP steam line/sump, the new elevator mechanics room (hydraulic), and what we believe to be an OPP workshop. In the northern wing are what we believe are OPP offices, as well as another OPP workshop "building" nestled in the hillside on the north side of Pond. A menacing hum emanates behind a locked steel door (Rm 003: transformer room). Room 3 has an outside door, reachable from a stairwell along Pond's central east wall from the outside. Also at the bottom of that stairwell is the door to a large electrical equipment room underneath the quad between Pond and Whitmore, which is sometimes unlocked.

1: Two large computer labs and office space. Near northwest entrance is a metal security box with character LCD display, basement access stairwell. Not exciting.

2: Main CSE dept offices, faculty offices. Not exciting.

3: Pond's only classroom, faculty offices, padlockable maintenance-level access via ladder+trapdoor near southwest elevator shaft. Not exciting.

M: The maintenance level of Pond IS interesting. The southern end of the building has a sort of vaulted concrete structure to it, with little six-inch cement mounds every few feet, lots of thin steel support beams, and the occasional disused vent shaft in the floor. The doorways are arched brick. In the center section, the floor seems much more current, with flat hard concrete. There's an elevator mechanism enclosure for the old/small elevator, with the relays/controls for the elevator, as well as the cable drum. On the northern end, there's very little flooring, with a catwalk along the outside walls. Headroom is low on both the northern and southern wings. There's stair and iron rung roof access. The second rung from the top of the rung ladder is loose and should be used with caution. The trap door is simply a hingeless heavy cover.

R: Pond's roof is essentially wooden boards (pre-particle/plywood construction) covered with a sort of fiberglass like waterproofing material. In some places, the roof 'cracks' alarmingly with each footstep, so use caution on this building's rooftop. The roof is tilted at a shallow angle with the lower end near the edges (traditional roof shape), and there are no protective ledges at each edge to hide behind or to stop you from sliding, so Pond's roof is probably one of the more dangerous. There are neat stone facades just below the roof edges. In general, expect to be very visible from the north as well as offices in Davey Lab, Osmond Tower, and other taller surrounding buildings. Dress dark, vad late.

Whimore Lab - PSU UP Campus

Whitmore laboratory was probably built around the same time as Osmond and Pond Labs (eg: 1925-1935ish). It once housed some of the Computer Science department, which was later combined with the computer engineering department and moved across the quad to Pond Laboratory around 1992. (There's still a bulletin board on the third floore that says "Computer Science.")

Whitmore is a "three story stucture," with basement, first, second, third, maint, and roof levels. As far as I can tell, there are perhaps two or three separate departments that use space in this building.

B: A number of labs and offices, old equipment. One lab had an ancient computer rack with a gigantic hard drive storage unit. Another contains a mass spectrometer and related equipment. Some seemingly abandoned offices (although they still contain files, etc.) Liquid nitrogen storage near the glass lab on the south-eastern corner. To the northwest, OPP steam maintainance room with locked access to steam tunnel "zone J" north, storage room with locked access to "zone J" (south?). Open/Public tunnels to sub level connecting to Davey lab (and later, Osmond) at southwestern corner.

1: General chem labs? Math dept course office? Chem storage office. Nothing of great interest.

2: Labs. Boring.

3: Abandoned Labs, Math dept computer server room, nice (Chem eng?) administration offices [along east side of building], hidden behind mundane doors. M-level access ladder to padlockable trap door at northern end of hallway. Yawn.

M: On the Maintenance level, there's a large number of ventalation fans, presumably for the chem labs below. After walking the length (and stepping over/under/around things), there's a roof access ladder/trap-door at the south end, along with a ladder leading down to a door that gives access to the nice administration offices below. One of my first vads.

R: The roof is the standard gravel sort, found on most office-type buildings. Fairly safe, with nice ledges. Lots of vents, some A/C equipment. Slightly lower rooving along the north and south ends of the building, with adjoining ladder access from the main roof.