Bug Out Retreat

I was watching a program tonight on bbc1 and it took the first story was of a former nuclear bunker for auction on Twyford, Southern England.

Here is the orginal story

The main story said it was sold for £240,000 but I am sure it said £285,000 on the program.

You should check the inside out program on BBC I player.

My thoughts were, if you had a survival group that this would be the ideal place to buy into as alot of the main features were still there like the blast doors and motor pool area etc.
They said it was large enough to cater for around 60 people.

The new owner was so reluctant to show themselves on TV so I thought that maybe the owner maybe a survivalist or part of a group of survivalists.

Anyhow, if I had the money I would have been very interested in buying this site.

Colec

reply to post by colec156


I thought I'd respond to this out of synchronicity, not more that an hour ago my mate was describing his visit to a bunker around the Brigend area apparently built for officials and sorts to escape us peasants during the cold war.

At the time he quipped that he wouldn't want to be in it when the nukes started falling, by all account he was the only one to notice that the air vent was just a pipe finishing just above ground, no filters pump nothing!

So dude, if you do eventually get a chance to buy one, don't trust the builder get a surveyor in LOL>

Honestly id rather have one i built on my own without any public knowledge of the location. I plot of land away from the city with a small earth home and a bunker built underneath it. Stay Gray.

Originally posted by moocowman
reply to post by colec156

 

I thought I'd respond to this out of synchronicity, not more that an hour ago my mate was describing his visit to a bunker around the Brigend area apparently built for officials and sorts to escape us peasants during the cold war.

At the time he quipped that he wouldn't want to be in it when the nukes started falling, by all account he was the only one to notice that the air vent was just a pipe finishing just above ground, no filters pump nothing!

So dude, if you do eventually get a chance to buy one, don't trust the builder get a surveyor in LOL>

The air induction manifold on the Bridgend regional control centre and its associated steel louvred inlet cover were romoved about 20 years ago.

Y'Know you read about businesses renting secure space in old salt mines, anhydrite mines etc and closing off the area with high security doors. they also fit air management systems to provide a steady regulated supply of dry air to to the stored documents from rotting. Do you really think they are all for just keeping old paper records !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of them have offices, kitchens and toilets fitted "" For Supervisory Staff and Reasearchers" to use..

Same sort of sneekyness went on in London apparently as well as other locations including a huge former quarry in Wiltshire the govt converted into a mega bunker., nother one in Wales and a huge 70 million pound on in Canada for the Royal family to live in if the UK got vapourised.

Its odd snippets that get the attention of survivalists, for example ( I cant remember the exact figures so this is a rough example) When they were digging the tunnels for the last few LUL tube tunnels the maths said they had to remove XXX amount of soil and clay and install XXX amount of steel or concrete tunnel liner sections. But when finished they had removed nearly double the amount and used double the amount of liners.

Of further note is some old mines were bought by private owners during the CW, the main horizontal access tunnels were sealed off from the rest of the mines with gas proofed heavy concrete walls. and blast proof doors fitted to the open end.

Also in recent decades private purchases of 96inch diameter reenforced concrete water pipe sections were noted, some folks buying only a few sections of pipe totalling 30 to 40 feet long... go figure.
And as mentioned in a recent thread its amazing how many people want to bury old shipping containers after spending good money having them shot blasted to remove rust and repainted.!!!!

In Canada a chap called bruce buried a load of lod school buses and converted them into a communal shelter for his team.

reply to post by Northern Raider


Thanks for the correction I will inform my mate> I don't know when he was there to be honest.

The reason the place was mentioned, was that he had been relating what seemed to him a ridiculous situation where, if the crap had hit the fan, as he put it. He and or/ his colleagues would have to get from wherever they were in South Wales area through all the chaos to Llandoc Hospital where equipment (can't remember what) was kept, in a very short period of time.

The joke was what if someone had gone home with the keys for aforesaid equipment. We had been kinda shaking our heads and laughing about some security boxes that he'd been issued. Apparently they were free standing, easy to nick and I said the key looked like the type you get with a free money box from a bank. Apparently all the keys were exactly the same so only one key was needed to open all the boxes.

I vaguely remember Merthyr Mawr being mentioned and a single door cut into the limestone perhaps, no idea if this is the same place as first mentioned.

Your response to my post and correction certainly shows how idle gossip without all the facts can turn into an urban myth. I wonder how many Area 51 one type tales, have started out just like this but have not been corrected along the way ?

Buying a bunker 'off-the-shelf' is an attractive prospect, but unfortunately I am sure that if there are any official records of it, or any mention of it in the planning offices, that if you really needed to use it, you may find it snatched out of your hands using emergency regulatory powers.

[

I vaguely remember Merthyr Mawr being mentioned and a single door cut into the limestone perhaps, no idea if this is the same place as first mentioned.

Your response to my post and correction certainly shows how idle gossip without all the facts can turn into an urban myth. I wonder how many Area 51 one type tales, have started out just like this but have not been corrected along the way ?

Did you know that under many GPO X Telephone Exchanges( dunno what the X reffered to) that they often had secure rooms with NBC kits, fuel, genny, medical supplies, cots etc to allow the phone engineers to survive and continue to operate the exchanges maintenance system after a nuclear war. If you are strongly interested tyou could try getting a copy of a book called BENEATH THE CITY STREETS, list lists allsorts of stuff about bunkers, tunnels etc

Originally posted by CallSign
Buying a bunker 'off-the-shelf' is an attractive prospect, but unfortunately I am sure that if there are any official records of it, or any mention of it in the planning offices, that if you really needed to use it, you may find it snatched out of your hands using emergency regulatory powers.

I once asked a gentleman who made what he called re enforced underground fuel tanks, and reenforced under ground septic tanks about the design for his products, he had increased the size of the opening hatches and offered an extention tube to raise it above ground level like a conning tower, put a sub floor in to make it flat and cast braces for supporting shelves etc into the design. Turned out that people with money were buying these " oil " tanks hiring a JCB and burying them in their back gardens. He cites one guy who put his garden shed over the top of one with a hole cut in the floor. dont think planning pemision was considered. Certainly it wasnt in a house in devon when the owner decided to build a giant Koi pond, thing could be pumped dry in an hour and had a huge great re enforced canopy over it that could be lowered to sit on top if the pond rim........

Originally posted by CallSign
Buying a bunker 'off-the-shelf' is an attractive prospect, but unfortunately I am sure that if there are any official records of it, or any mention of it in the planning offices, that if you really needed to use it, you may find it snatched out of your hands using emergency regulatory powers.

Fair point, I never thought about that but then I am not likely to have that sort of money available anyhow.

I agree with one of the other posters saying that they would rather build a small one in their bag yard / garden.
It is something that I have been looking into but at the moment my garden is surrounded by trees and that I think the roots my cause a problem.

Still It is something that I could look into.

Originally posted by colec156

Originally posted by CallSign
Buying a bunker 'off-the-shelf' is an attractive prospect, but unfortunately I am sure that if there are any official records of it, or any mention of it in the planning offices, that if you really needed to use it, you may find it snatched out of your hands using emergency regulatory powers.

Fair point, I never thought about that but then I am not likely to have that sort of money available anyhow.

I agree with one of the other posters saying that they would rather build a small one in their bag yard / garden.
It is something that I have been looking into but at the moment my garden is surrounded by trees and that I think the roots my cause a problem.

Still It is something that I could look into.

Aye but they also stabilise the soil and provide extra cammoflage for any concealled structure.

reply to post by Northern Raider


Indeed, I will take a look and make a few ideas about what I could do.
I'm sure that I could come up with something of some use.

Mind you I suppose I could build a structure and have some sort of bush grow over the main structure.

reply to post by Northern Raider


Thanks for the info,
This talk of bunkers and such makes me wonder how police officers firemen and such, would actually react in a mass event.

If I were a cop and crap happened, I would imagine that the only thing on my mind would be getting to my family no different to not being a cop.

Anyone think that a bad thing ?
Sorry to be slightly off topic there

[edit on 22-1-2009 by moocowman]

Originally posted by moocowman
reply to post by Northern Raider

 

Thanks for the info,
This talk of bunkers and such makes me wonder how police officers firemen and such, would actually react in a mass event.

If I were a cop and crap happened, I would imagine that the only thing on my mind would be getting to my family no different to not being a cop.

Anyone think that a bad thing ?
Sorry to be slightly off topic there

[edit on 22-1-2009 by moocowman]

Years ago when I was a young soldier belonging to a troop designated to reenforce the BAOR in Germany if the soviets kicked off. We were spending the week on rapid deployment techniques and NBC training. We had two officers , three sergeants and a handfull of NCOs training us. Some of them like me at the time were reservists most were cops and firemen in civvy life. by about the thursday we were taking a break and the OC said " If the balloon goes up you will now know what to do as you deploy to Germany and await your new NCOs and Officers.

Somewhat perplexed we asked "WHY? Are they not deploying with us? "

Not a chance came the reply from the officers and instructors, if 1.5 million soviets come charging through the german inner border We like most other people are going to **** off to Scotland with our familes and wait til its over.

I dont think any big wars like that will hapen anymore, most of the threats to the UK specifically and the west generally will be triggered by internal problems caused by gross over population, ever more extreme government, ethnic unrest , totalitarian policing and the rise of religous fundamentalism. I am more concerned about the future of my faith based culture for extenal threats than I am from countries with bigger armies than ours attacking us. The bloody world is rapidly becoming polarised and segrigated like never before and no matter ghow many insane laws get passed ordering us to enjoy the benefits of diversity and multi culturalism, human nature dictates we want to live within communities where everyone shares the same values and prays to the same icons.

Damn world is not getting any nicer, if it was we would not need to include plans for armagedon as well as surviving what mother nature throws at us.

[edit on 22-1-2009 by Northern Raider]

This isnt the only thread on here dealing with underground fallout shelters. Just with a passing thought I can think of a pile of them regarding people trying to build with buses, concrete, one guy was going to tear up his parents backyard (that was rather entertaining), then there are the premade for purchase ones, the people who want to stick a connex into a hill (not a bad idea I concede) and those looking at these massive, expensive, save an entire town type structures that are scattered world wide.

Fact of the matter here is reality. I dont have the funds to do something like this, I seriously doubt many who post here do. The logistics it would take to properly build any long term functioning underground shelter is mindboggling. Then you get to start to pay for it. Not just construction, but upkeep. I would think it would be like owning an jet airplane. Yes, its great if you have that sort of cash lying around, but most people cant sink 30k, or 40k, or more into the ground.

To bring these threads up is nice to see once inawhile, but the fact is, your best bet for a revolt, sit-x, nuclear fallout, etc... is to simply have a place to go that is stocked up. Keep your gas masks, radition suits and thyroide pills around and hope for the best.

Man wasnt designed to live underground and become a mole. Honestly, I would rather die than spend the next 60 years in a bomb proof coffin waiting to die. Thats not surviving, merely existing.

In short, if you have the ability, time and cash to do something like this, more power to you. For the rest of us, we should concentrate on doing what we have with the resources available to us, and for most, that means staying above ground.

reply to post by Northern Raider


Thanks for that excellent post, it was nice to hear (see) your take on things , I won't say anymore because I'll drift off topic

Originally posted by moocowman
reply to post by Northern Raider

 

Thanks for that excellent post, it was nice to hear (see) your take on things , I won't say anymore because I'll drift off topic

Dont take any of my opinions with anything more than a pinch of salt, I'm just an old grouch, I tend to look at thinks for strange angles, IE over 3 years ago I said the US had become as great a threat to world peace as Al Quaeda, and boy I was on the mark there.We must reaspect each others opinions but we dont have to agree with them.
Respects