
"I can't for the life of me guess what this thing was..."
From: Deluxe
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 07:40:15 -0700
Subject: Re: Underground military facility exploration photos
"The closest room to the entrance had this piece of ancient
machinery..."
That looks like a run-of-the-mill standby generator. The electrical
generator is the horizontal cylindrical lump at the left. The three
orange/red canisters are probably oil filters (Fram replacement
cartridges, perhaps?) The radiator is to the right, with a ducted cowl
to exhaust the hot air. I'm guessing that the engine exhaust stack
pokes through the wall and has a series of silencers attached before
poking out of the ground somewhere above. That's my (mostly) educated
guess, based on the clarity of the photo.
-- Deluxe

"...a room with a workbench, electrical panels and many banks of what look like telephone switches."
From: Deluxe
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 08:20:19 -0700
Subject: Re: Underground military facility exploration photos
This indeed looks like a phone room. But instead of switches, these are
probably just wiring terminal blocks. When multi-line phone cables
terminate in a central location the individual copper pairs are spread
out on across orderly arrays of terminals, and then short jumper cables
are used to patch circuits from one pair to another. There may have
been additional switching gear in this room at one point, but it was
probably removed for scrap.

"I assume the initials mean 'Southwest Battery D_____'"
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 20:07:28 -0700
From: Scott T________
Subject: Re: Underground military facility exploration photos
Great posting and great website of pictures!
I hate to break it to you, though, but SWBD in an old acronym for
"Switchboard", which fits in the context of where you saw it. Thus, I
doubt that the place was called Southwest Battery D___.
[Note from evidence@mikeycosm.org: I was wrong about the abbreviation 'SWBD' but I'm sure Battery D_______ is the name of the place, it's listed on a nearby map.]