City Estate Living...London's buried excavators

[bcp]

New Statesman | The bizarre secret of London

From the link above:

I've made a discovery about what is buried under the swimming pools and basement conversions of wealthy west London. This booty is worth about ｣5m. More revealing, however, is another fact: this ｣5m was tossed away like small change tipped into a busker's hat. It is not **** art, or plutonium that has been used to kill the enemies of Russian oligarchs. It is a fleet of diggers.
...
How many of these once perfectly functioning and possibly still serviceable diggers are petrified underneath central London, like those Romans preserved cowering in the corners of houses in Pompeii? Estimates vary. One property developer I asked reckoned at least 1,000; another put the figure at more like 500.

 

[Tor Arne]

Some people have too much Money :shocked: , they could rather given some of the money they waste to me

 

[alchemysa]

I'm pretty skeptical. Sounds like a bit of a hoax to me, and not a single supporting pic. It would have to be small digger in the first place (VERY small for 5000 pounds) so I'd imagine it would be relatively easy to dismantle and lift it out with a small boom crane.

Also, how are they getting out all the dirt that this digger is supposedly removing?Carrying it out in their pockets or trouser cuffs perhaps.

 

[charlz]

I dunno, sounds like they are talking about the ones small enough to drive through a door. Easy enough to just park it in a corner and build around it.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm pretty skeptical. Sounds like a bit of a hoax to me, and not a single supporting pic. It would have to be small digger in the first place (VERY small for 5000 pounds) so I'd imagine it would be relatively easy to dismantle and lift it out with a small boom crane.

Also, how are they getting out all the dirt that this digger is supposedly removing?Carrying it out in their pockets or trouser cuffs perhaps.

I used to work with a woman whose husband had a business putting basements under houses that had no basements, rebuilding foundations, etc... he would knock a small man-sized hole in the side of the foundation just under the sill plate and crawl in on his belly. He'd scoop dirt into buckets and hand them out to his sons, who would dump them on a conveyor attached to the back of an old 1940's dump truck. Repeat. Once he got enough room to work in his hole, he'd have the boys lower in another conveyor and he'd dump the bucket into that, the dirt went out the man-hole into a wheelbarrow, the boy up top would dump it into the conveyor on the dump truck. Repeat. Buckets, wheelbarrows, conveyors and strong backs. That's how you get dirt out from under houses. YIKES! Just think of what he could have done if he had enough room to lower in a mini excavator or a Power Trac like mine without the ROPS.

 

[mikehaugen]

Try to do that here and the epa would be all over you.

 

[Jstpssng]

I'm pretty skeptical. Sounds like a bit of a hoax to me, and not a single supporting pic. It would have to be small digger in the first place (VERY small for 5000 pounds) so I'd imagine it would be relatively easy to dismantle and lift it out with a small boom crane.

Also, how are they getting out all the dirt that this digger is supposedly removing?Carrying it out in their pockets or trouser cuffs perhaps.

I wish I could find a decent excavator for that kind of money. (5000 British pounds = 8400 US dollars) I'd take much better care of it, too.
I have to call BS on this one... there is no supporting evidence. Besides, if real estate is that valuable who in their right mind is going to take up space just to bury a machine?

This on the other hand Canadian Man Excavates His Basement Using R/C Trucks Over 7 Years! | Singularity Hub

I found rather interesting.

 

[bcp]

Another article, based on the first.

BURIED ALIVE: Why London contractors entombed up to $10 million worth of perfectly good excavators beneath their jobsites | Equipment World | Construction Equipment, News and Information | Heavy Construction Equipment

And a rebuttal article:

Claims developers are dumping diggers in London basement conservations 'nonsense' - London - News - London Evening Standard

Bruce

 

[SPIKER]

They were talking 1980's-90's and prior when this was going on that was 2x the money now. Most of these left behind excavators would be stripped down most likely to fit into/under the existing structures as well. It is pretty common practice in the underground world to leave equipment in the ground. Loot at mines, everything that goes down stays there even if it was still running when the mine went bust. Places like salt mines and the big tunnel boring equipment usually is wore out much faster so leaving them in place is no big deal, scrap value is about all that is lost. I worked for a company that made underground boring machines, smaller up to 10' across and yep customers often said one time use build cost of machine into cost of job. If it is pulled out when done it is paid for already and if not it was paid for...

Mark

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Surely, they would never bury a Kubota like that ...