Tales of the Urban Explorer: The Bus Graveyard

Who does not like a good old large vehicle graveyard to have a rummage through? @anidiotexplores sourced this one probably through his connections and added a pre-arrival warning.

There’s a car wash opposite who employs nosey bastards who then call the cops when they see intruders going in..."

We would need to find an alternative entrance lest the cops show up and accuse us of stealing valuable rust from bits of decaying bodywork.

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Parking in a handy supermarket free car park I spotted the car wash which looked bustling with customers.

Maybe they would be too distracted to notice?

Taking no chances we found a winding path that took us around the back which we diverged off into some thick woodland. A short tromp through the vegetation and we saw the way in.

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Ducking down and walking hunched isn't so easy for me these days. These enormous old trucks held up with metal supports were just high enough to straddle under. I can't say I am comfortable knowing there's several tons of metal just an inch above my head.

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It was over soon enough and we found ourselves in the middle of a massive pile of trucks and buses rotting away.

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Why they would want to pull engine parts out and display them I could not tell you. Was there a rotting engine show imminent?

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Three for the price of one, why not.. it takes up less room.

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These have been here for some time given the amount of moss growing.

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As tempted as I was, there was no climbing up there for a closer look.

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I had to read this one twice. I thought it was something related to airplanes for a minute.

A movement caught my eye.., we were not alone.

There’s someone over there mate”, I motioned to @anidiotexplores who promptly strode over in the direction I was pointing to see who would dare challenge us in this haven of pure rust and decay.

A few minutes later he returned, "Just some kids farting about".

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They must have been covert kids as I never saw them again. The best type methinks.

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It was then I spotted the buses all crowded into one area.

I don’t travel on buses now but used them all the time in my childhood and teenage years.

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Little has changed though I know current ones all boast Wi-Fi now. What I would have done for that during all my mindless boring travels on these things.

I was hardly expecting to see luxury inside these, though this one was in better condition than I expected.

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A little nostalgia kicked in and I had to look up the stairs which was in a similar state. Very little has changed in bus design over the decades.

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So the upholstery needs a little work, and some new windows may help but there are benefits such as all that fresh air and free showers when it rains as a passenger.

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You could say, you have seen one and you have seen them all. This one had an engine dumped inside, maybe the engine that once ran it.

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No driver seat either, you would need to stand and dodge the nettles and other prickly things when driving this particular one.

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I had no idea that the common bus sported an automatic gearbox. I’m sure they didn’t when I was a youth.

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This is what happens after a nuclear explosion when viewing in a bus in the aftermath or maybe there was simply a large fire.

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Not just a fire but some kind of inferno. What could have caused heat of that magnitude?

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We exited the graveyard in full sight of the car wash guys who didn’t appear to notice or care about our departure.

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It could be that we had been fed bullshit intelligence or Mr. Nosey had been told by the car boss to stop being a 'Male Karen' and get on with his fucking job.

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All my 'Tales' content is easy to find on my personal website:
'Tales of the Urban Explorer'

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It's quite curious who pulls out all these engines and scatters them even inside buses. If these are the same farting kids, I would be wary.

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I doubt it's the kids, those engines weigh a ton and would need to be pulled out before the dumping begins!

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Don't underestimate them. As a child, I played in a similar place. Of course, we started with the windows, then the seats in the cabin, then the handrails... I think that if it weren't for that guy with the gun, we figured out what to do with the engines :)

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It would have been cool to hang in a place like this as a kid. I was never so lucky.., the local woods being as good as it gets.

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Well, it was cool, and you were a little panicked all the time. Instead of hedgehogs in your wood, we often met junkies. Or they were urban explorers, maybe...

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I've called the cops; you fare dodger!

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I payed half-fare for a while when I started work, there were benefits of looking like you were 12 at 16. They caught on after a while.

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That Longridge Boltom Mercedes bus looks like the ones they used to have in Milton Keynes when I lived there back in the 80s'. I thought they were great buses, and they ran every five minutes, so you were never waiting long for one. I rarely catch a bus these days.

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I'm not a car/bus/truck enthusiast, but I would totally go to a rotting engine show.

Actually I feel like I just did.

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There are few about, in fact this is only the 2nd ever graveyard I have found.

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Interesting. I have never found a graveyard although occasionally while wandering through the woods I will come across some lonely abandoned vehicle. They are always riddled with bullets.

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I wonder how many time you bowed your head, and threw dust clapping your hand.
Looks wild.
You did a great work with photograph as well. Loved the way you maintained multicolor object with a good hdr. 👌
Stay safe with cop . Haha

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Outdoor explores! A category in its own right.

I hate the Enviro-Buses they have up here, Noisiest things you have ever heard.

I think buses have been automatic for donkeys? Possibly because bus drivers are dolts and cant work manual gears :OD

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I think buses have been automatic for donkeys? Possibly because bus drivers are dolts and cant work manual gears

Have they? I remember a huge long gearstick from my youth with the usual ball on top.., it was so long and thin I thought it might snap with a little pressure.

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Actually. Now you mention it, that rings a bell too. The sixties were will times... 😀

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There are some TV programs that masters restore such vehicles. However, the game would not be worth the candle.

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I have seen those shows, but always cars. Old buses likely would not cut it!

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I'm surprised they're wasting precious land storing these old buses, when they could have sold them for scrap metal and earned some money from that amount of steel that could be recycled.

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Certain metals here are worth it, and others not so. Copper is the one.

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I still use the city bus on occasion when I am in NYC, but when at home, it is more likely to use the metro or uber, or my own car. I still like the city busses, probably because I never had to take them growing up. Making up for lost time and all. :)

I didn't even know they had boneyards for busses, but, I loved seeing the different ones that they had out there. An outdoor arena of urbex. Super cool. The double-deckers have always looked a little top-heavy to me, but, I always try to get the top seating. Crazy, right?

I must tell you that I really, really like the edits on this set of shots. You gave them a real/surreal look, which is so pleasing to the eyes.

This was a fun post and where did those little buggers that they were never heard from again? He probably scared the bejesus out of them and they took off as fast as they could!

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(Edited)

I think there were just a couple of kids and not a gang. They probably thought we were the law and tried to hide. I was more interested in looking around than bothering with them tbh.

This one seemed popular, though I personally prefer properties. I guess it's a little different. Back to Pigeonshit Manor for the next (literally!). Thanks for the great comment as always!

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It's really easy because tge content is always stellar, even when you come up empty.

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Great photos...you still using Auroa HDR? Which filter?


Posted via proofofbrain.io

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I am! and it's this filter.

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cool - many thanks for the tips - i dig that look - will try it out

100% - yeah dude, that's the story, my default setting too!

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I like it! First try below.

Took this photo of a 73 Valiant last week. Long ago I had a 67 Valiant. Grunty, but thirsty!

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I had a Gran Torino once.., when I lived in the US. Great car. Looked literally like this.

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I like this a lot more than the urbex houses, in fact I might even pay to come in, it would be fun to roam around. It has great potential to trend as an Instagram hot spot, you might even get a lot more urbexers (is that what you call yourselves?)

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'urbexers' - it will do!.. and a lot more safe than the old houses I generally frequent. I don't even have an Instagram account besides the dodgy legacy handbags one for an old failed business years ago that @bingbabe was into. Back to the creaky houses I'm afraid next!

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Nice display of varying grades of scrap there, light iron, HMS1&2, a good amount of non-ferrous too, a pikey's wet dream.

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Those car wash dudes might think everyone is a pikey, its the usual Karen thing.

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aahh! the romanian and albanian illegals?

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Beautiful pictures, you captured mixture of colors really good in these :)

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Buses we rode on as kids, (too cold to cycle only days)_, long stick with knob on top for gears lever, short man having to literally stand to achieve movement.

Double decker only in city, seldom had the luxury of boarding those!

Back seat always the place to be, fought our way to earn that too....

Shopping graveyard engines might be profitable... 😉. Awesome walk through, duck under, avoidance issue outing again @slobberchops

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long stick with knob on top for gears

That's just how I remember them to be. That and the double-decker where all the kids on the top layer ran to the side to try and make the bus topple over when cornering (while they were all inside and about to die). Bloody dumbasses!

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Top floor of double-decker rocking sounds like something we would have done..., given the opportunity!

Great memories tied up in old means of transport, alas none here except odd tourist ones rescued from similar fate to the graveyard!

Did your bus drivers tend to lean toward that 'bull dog' look as well, yell where's your ticket? Then have the seat raised he could hardly reach the peddles.... ha ha toppling him would have been fun.

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I see old buses of different kinds like this all the time here in the U.S. and think how it such a waste to see them just sit and rust away in a lot or field somewhere. They would make good temporary shelters for someone who has nothing. Repurposing/recycling them for something like that would be good to see.

Hell, you could get kids with nothing better to do, like those you mentioned out farting around, to pull out their spray paint, throw down some street art and decorate them with some murals and shit.

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The fact that an ad for a Facebook group can be moldering away on the back of a rusting bus that was retired years ago makes me feel old.

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So many rotting mechanics in one place, just thanks for the tour !

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