Buffalo Central Terminal (1 May 1999): Scumbone and I crossed the border to Buffalo for a visit to the no-longer-abandoned town of Love Canal and an investigation of the Buffalo Central Terminal (which I described in depth in February). There were a fair number of new features at the BCT, including an eight-foot-tall chain link fence around the perimeter of the main building and thick wooden barricades between each floor of the freight terminal and the main building.
         Fortunately, I remembered from my last visit that the roof of the freight building leads to a lovely little hole in the outside wall of the main building, so Scumbone and I had no trouble getting inside and taking the full tour of the abandoned offices, the 20-storey-high roof, the great hall and the flooded basement levels. The basements were now filled with water instead of ice, so we weren't able to crawl around some of the interesting half-flooded rooms.
         We spent most of the afternoon touring the joint. When we reemerged late in the day, we were horrified to see the windows on Scumbone's car had been smashed and her hood left propped open. Nothing had been stolen, as there was nothing worth stealing, but we had to notify the Buffalo police anyhow. An officer came out and met us at the BCT. At first he seemed more concerned with why we were at the building than with our misfortune. I explained that we'd just been wandering around the site for a while, and had taken a quick look inside.
        "You went inside the building?" he asked. "That's trespassing!"
        "There were no signs," I replied, "so we just took a quick look. It's such a beautiful building that we couldn't resist."
        "Well, I'll notify them [ed.: who?] that the site has become unsecure."
         This last comment of the officer's is quite funny, if you know the place. There are at least three dozen easy entrances to the building at a variety of points. They won't be able to seal it up, so feel free to visit (but be sure to park your car somewhere near civilization).

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