9.
KOLA PENINSULA On the Kola Peninsula in Russia’s extreme
northwest, there’s a Soviet-era submarine graveyard that’s been forgotten about until
recent years.
The subs sit in a restricted zone that’s connected to an active naval base.
The Soviets dumped them there in the 70s and forgot about them.
The Soviet Navy was struggling to keep up with orders for new warships, and getting
rid of the decommissioned subs wasn’t a priority.
Some of the outdated subs supposedly sank after the military used them for target practice.
They just left the rest there to decay.
Over the years, oil and rust leaked into the water and polluted the environment.
It took a while, but the authorities eventually acknowledged that the mess was only getting
worse and that it needed to be cleaned up.
They burned at least one submarine as part of the clean-up effort.
They dismantled others, removed them from the water, and recycled them.
Some were in good enough condition to be used as training vessels, and one ended up on display
at a museum.
Based on satellite images captured in 2007, it looks like there could be at least seven
submarines still sitting in the water that are beyond saving.
8.
RED STAR TRAIN GRAVEYARD The Hungarian Rail Network built the Istvántelek
Train Yard, now known as the Red Star Train Graveyard, during the early 20th century.
The country’s rail fleet was snowballing.
They designed and built the yard to perform maintenance and repairs on the growing fleet.
It ended up doubling as a scrapyard when diesel engines began replacing locomotives.
Outdated equipment piled up at the property, where much of it remains today.
There are over 100 train cars and locomotives at the Red Star Graveyard.
Some of them have extremely rare engines.
The Nazis reportedly used some of the other trains for transporting prisoners to Auschwitz
when they occupied Hungary during World War II.
There are also many Soviet-era trains parked in the yard.
Only a few parts of the site are still in active use today.
Mostly, the Hungarians have abandoned and forgotten the graveyard.
Even though the train cars have connections to major historical chapters and events.
Many people believe that the aging, obsolete equipment is worth saving.
At one point, the government slated some cars to be moved to a local museum for display.
But this never happened, and the museum ended up closing.
Because of a lack of funding, they made no alternative plans for the cars.
They continue to rot at the graveyard with an uncertain future.
Nobody will probably ever restore them.
7.
GORELOVO AIRBASE The Soviets built Gorelovo Airbase in 1938
outside the Russian city of St. Petersburg.
It was originally a Soviet Air Force base that housed military aircraft and plane parts.
It was also home to several regiments, as well as an aircraft repair facility.
The military stopped using the site when the Soviet Union fell.
It’s still partially in use today as an aircraft repair center and an airfield for
small planes.
It also functions as the headquarters for a local flight school.
But the site is littered with evidence of its military past, including a closed-off
section of runway that contains a helicopter graveyard.
The decommissioned choppers began appearing during the ‘90s and have sat, neglected,
ever since.
They are continuing to fall apart as time passes.
Several administration buildings are no longer used, along with two abandoned radio towers
and a weather station.
Nobody has bothered to maintain the vehicles or buildings, yet the property owner stations
guards at the site to prevent trespassers from snooping around or stealing scrap metal.
The repair shop may be keeping the helicopters for their parts, despite their sad state.
6.
THE BONEYARD The world’s largest aircraft graveyard is
at the Davis-Monthan U.S. Air Force Base outside Tucson in Arizona.
Nicknamed “The Boneyard,” the sprawling, 1,200-acre (486 hectares) site is home to
over 4,400 decommissioned aircraft.
The military chose it for its dry climate, which helps to slow down the inevitable rusting
process.
There are planes from all over the world at The Boneyard, and many of them have been there
for years or even decades.
Hardly anybody used the planes before they were put into storage.
And while this may seem like a tremendous waste, someone will recycle or bring most
of the vehicles back to life.
They’re simply waiting until they’re needed.
Some planes are broken down for their parts, which are shipped out and reused.
Others are maintained so that they’re ready to take to the skies again on short notice.
Davis-Monthan is home to countless different models of aircraft, including a collection
of decommissioned B-52 bombers that are in storage.
The military removed their wings as part of a strategic arms limitation treaty between
the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
They deliberately positioned the planes so that Soviet satellites could see from overhead
that they had removed the wings as promised.
Some of the fighter jets at the Boneyard, including the F-4 Phantom II and the F-16,
are being converted into aerial target drones.
There’s a lot more to store a plane than simply parking it and letting it become an
afterthought.
Crews drain the fuel from every plane that arrives at The Boneyard.
Then they flush out its fuel tank and lines with light oil to keep them lubricated.
If a plane served on an aircraft carrier, it needs to be washed to avoid corrosion from
exposure to sea salt.
They removed all explosive devices from the planes, covered small openings with tape,
and sprayed the aircraft with several coats of easily removable paint.
This helps to keep it as cool as possible and protect it from the harsh desert sun.
Unfortunately, Davis-Monthan is not open to the public, being an active military site
and all.
There used to be bus tours, but they’ve been suspended indefinitely at the request
of the Air Force.
5.
THESSALONIKI TRAIN CEMETERY On the outskirts of Greece’s second-largest
city, Thessaloniki, there’s a growing collection of disused trains.
The country’s national railway, known as the Hellenic Railways Organization, left them
behind.
The rusting cars accumulated during the 1980s.
Now there are over 1,000 of them on the property.
They’ve become a popular attraction among urban explorers but sadly serve no practical
purpose.
The company has repeatedly tried to sell the cars as scrap, but these attempts were unsuccessful.
Very few honest business owners seem interested in associating with the site, which has a
reputation for scrap smuggling and other dishonest dealings.
Many rail enthusiasts have argued that some trains aren’t worth scrapping, and they’d
be better off being preserved for their historical value.
And it’s true, the yard contains some remarkable vintage train cars, including late 19th-century
wagons that once traveled between Thessaloniki and Istanbul.
There are also units that the Nazis seized as World War II trophies, according to photographer
Nicki Panou, who spotted the ill-gotten train cars during a visit to the site.
On her website, Panou echoed the sentiments of those who think it’s a shame that they
have left vintage train cars to rot.
They are unguarded and at the mercy of vandals who have dismantled them and stolen parts
for scrap.
She described the wagons as lost pieces of heritage.
She further pointed out that it’s unfortunately too late to save many of them.
What do you think could be a great way to use an abandoned train car?
Let us know in the comments, and remember to subscribe for more great videos from the
channel!
4.
NAGYGYIMOT AIRCRAFT GRAVEYARD Outside the tiny Hungarian village of Nagygyimót,
there’s a small aircraft cemetery.
It has an abandoned runway and over 30 decommissioned military planes from bygone eras.
The military built it during the 1930s as an airbase.
It’s near the modern-day Papa military base.
In 1945, the Soviet Union took control of the now deserted site.
It continued to operate until the military took the last of its planes out of service
in 1997.
Some found new homes at museums or were sold to collectors.
Others have remained parked at the defunct base ever since it closed.
Crews filled their fuel tanks with cement to prevent anyone from coming along and trying
to fly them.
The site maintained a military presence until 2001 when all remaining personnel left.
Today, there are five decommissioned Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets and 29 Mikoyan-Gurevich
MiG-21s at the site.
Developed by the Soviet Union, these planes were famous for their top-notch fighting capabilities.
Many countries have relied on them since the Soviets introduced them in the 1960s.
During their heyday, the jets were especially popular among the Eastern Bloc countries,
with the Hungarian military employing over 250 MiG-21s at one point.
Sadly, the aircraft at the abandoned property are sinking into the mud from the weight of
the cement inside their tanks.
And scavengers in search of scrap metal have dismantled the historic, decaying jets piece
by piece.
3.
RAF FOLKINGHAM The British Royal Air Force opened the Folkingham
base in Lincolnshire, England in 1940.
It served primarily as a troop carrier airfield, and both British and American forces used
the base.
During the Cold War, the property functioned as a missile base.
When RAF Folkingham closed down in 1963, the military left hundreds of vehicles they used
during wartime at the site.
They included trucks, boats, amphibious vehicles, and construction and farming machines.
As time passed, the rotting equipment became overgrown with plants and covered in rust
and peeling paint.
Shortly after the base closed, the military sold the property to a private buyer for agricultural
use.
But the new owner left the vehicles untouched as they fell further into disrepair.
In 2013, MailOnline reported that the current owners stored the machines so they could sell
them for scrap parts.
Today, the field remains littered with decaying equipment.
2.
FERROPOLIS At the end of World War II, France, Great
Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union divided Germany up.
They drew a line through the country, splitting it up into the communist east and capitalist
West Germany.
East Germany fell under strict Soviet control.
Formally known as the German Democratic Republic, East Germany was closed off from the outside
world for most people who lived there.
And the East Germans didn’t allow anyone from outside the Berlin Wall into the country.
Germany reunified in 1990, finally giving citizens of countries outside the Eastern
Bloc a chance to see what went on in East Germany during the decades-long division.
And while a lot of what they saw was depressing, some sights were fascinating.
For example, there’s a former East German coal mine in the country’s northeastern
region.
Known as Ferropolis, it’s home to five massive bucket excavators that were left behind when
the site closed in 1991.
The East Germans abandoned the equipment because it was easier and cheaper to desert it than
it would’ve been to move or dismantle it.
It probably creates a problem leaving such gargantuan machinery lying around.
But the government had bigger tasks at hand, like restructuring its economy and finding
jobs for its unemployed masses.
Soon enough, the excavators attracted visitors, and it continues to function as an open-air
museum today.
It’s thought to be the world’s biggest collection of abandoned industrial diggers,
with each machine weighing up to 2,000 tons (1,814 metric tons).
The oldest digger, nicknamed the Mosquito, was built in 1941.
Between three and five operators were required to run this 223 by 92 foot (68 x 28 meters)
monster.
It took the same amount of people to run a 263-foot-wide (80 meters) excavator known
as Mad Max, which dates back to 1952.
Both the Mosquito and Mad Max are small compared to the 328-foot-long (100 meters) Medusa,
which required five to seven operators.
But the site’s largest machine, the 410-foot-long (125 meters) Gemini, dwarfed even the Medusa.
Built in 1958, a six to eight-person crew was required to control the monster.
The 102 by 246-foot (31 x 75 meters) Big Wheel is the newest digger.
It was built in 1984 and requires three to five operators.
Nobody has used the machines since mining closed, and they are legally protected.
In 1995, the site officially reopened as Ferropolis, giving the public a chance to see the gigantic
diggers up close.
1.
CZESTOCHOWA TRAIN GRAVEYARD During Poland’s communist era, Częstochowa
was one of the country’s leading industrial and educational centers.
It’s become a popular tourist attraction and is also still an industrial hub, thanks
to the establishment of the Katowice Special Economic Zone.
The zone offers business owners incentives for setting up their headquarters there.
But times have changed, and this is clear in the left-behind remnants of the city’s
past, including an abandoned train depot that has seen much busier days.
At its peak, the station functioned as a vital link between the historic Warsaw-Vienna Railway
and the rest of Europe.
But it lost its use over the years, as six more rail stations opened throughout Częstochowa.
The depot eventually closed because it was no longer needed.
Today, the disused property is only a train graveyard.
It serves as a storage facility for an eerie collection of aging rail cars that are no
longer used.
Czestochowa’s landscape has changed a lot since the station’s heyday.
But the city of 240,000 is still lively and has a lot going for it, and its future is
promising.
It is here that crumbling historical ruins coexist alongside the fast-paced day-to-day
happenings of modern urban life.
And this stark contrast between the past and present might explain why urban explorers
can’t seem to agree on whether the station is a true train graveyard or a neglected part
of a larger depot.
Technicalities aside, the property is fascinating and attracts many off-the-beaten-path explorers
who are hoping to glimpse firsthand a bygone era.
If you could keep it, would you rather find an abandoned vintage car or an abandoned small
airplane?
Share your answer in the comments below, and remember to hit the subscribe button for more
outstanding videos.
See you again soon!
Bye! :)