Busbys bore
twat
Oh Jesus! Well that's a no go thenDecimalz wrote:The air is toxic inside of it. High levels of CO2. If you do gain access you will most likely be unconscious or dead within minutes.
twat
There is always a way in.
Spades
???
I have some entry points to it, it is a hand dug tunnel built by convicts I believe.Homerone wrote:I've been reading up on busbys bore and I am very curious as to how to do this drain and where are good access points, does anyone know what it's like now and has anyone done it recently, really keen to do it!
You can enter by various manhole shafts and yeah it doesn't have breathable air.
I'm going to give it a go when i come down so I'll let you know how it goes!
Yeah, f*** oxygen! Who needs it anyway!vicdrains wrote: I'm going to give it a go when i come down so I'll let you know how it goes!
vicdrains wrote:I have some entry points to it, it is a hand dug tunnel built by convicts I believe.Homerone wrote:I've been reading up on busbys bore and I am very curious as to how to do this drain and where are good access points, does anyone know what it's like now and has anyone done it recently, really keen to do it!
You can enter by various manhole shafts and yeah it doesn't have breathable air.
I'm going to give it a go when i come down so I'll let you know how it goes!
Haha I think I know the overflow you speak of, not sure if it does but I have a feeling that the drain running from fingle bay warf may connect somehow, it could be bricked up but it looks quite old as you go along, you would need a boat and a steady head haha!madmaw wrote:I've been trying to get into this one for ages, but haven't had much success. I know of a couple of entry points, but they're both on premises with security guards of one type or another. Have had a roll around in a couple of drains in the area trying to find an entry point too, but the separation between the sewage system and the storm water system isn't so good in this area (actually ended up in a sewage overflow at one point, good times). Plus, yes, I read a couple of reports from council workers about there being lots of methane down there.
twat
I might have a pic somewhere of the shaft. ~8m deep, bare earth, bout 3-4m in diameter, with just... still, muddy water of unknown depth at the bottom. No ladders or signs of any fitting other than the manhole collar. Quite a few root penetrations if i recall. Like madkunts, eventually someone sprayed 'Start Ya Bastard' on some rags , lit them n lowered them down the shaft. Nothing exploded thankfully, quite the opposite in fact. At 3m down an lit ether-soaked fireball rag went out with a poof!
No air mate.
Theres a lid under the floor of the Fox Cinema foyer apparently, no other lids have been found tho. We've popped every lid in the vicinity of where every lid is supposed to be.
You could prolly do it with mad tanked air or extractor fans, but thats way out of my can be fucked league. One day someone might get in, but its not happened yet.
The manhole is in the middle of traffic lane (adjacent to the footpath) on a major 6 lane road. As Silo explained, to accomplish our task we had to block off that traffic lane with witch's hats, warning signs, and with 2 guys using reflective flashing wands to slow cars down (this road was busy even at 2am on a Weds morning back in 2002-3!).
The manhole cover was fully wedged in due to cars, buses and trucks pounding it for years, opening it was probably the most difficult and time consuming part of the mission as we needed hydraulic lifting equipment (a truck jack) and steel levers and a sledghammer. The 1 inch thick steel bar we used as a lever was fully bent before it suddenly sprang the 60kg manhole cover more than a foot up into the air before it crashed back down into the manhole collar where it got semi wedged again at an angle.
Fortunately, nobody was standing near it as we were expecting something like that to happen with all that force and tension being applied. Anyway, we got the cover back out and then peered into the abyss with awaiting amazement.
Part of the crew that night many years ago (Siolo is behind the camera)...
Pic Removed - Admin
This pic reminds of nasty game hunters in Africa who are posing with the prey they just murdered (the only thing we killed was time and our curiosity).
To our horror we saw that about 1m down into the shaft where the many layers of tar laid over the last 70 years meets the sandstone bedrock (not bare earth) out of which that shaft and tunnel was carved out of by convicts in the 1820-30s, the circular shaft widens out to 5-6 feet in diameter!
There is no ladder, step-irons, or other way to climb down and back up (these are inspection shafts used during construction and air shafts, not access shafts).
We did have some climbing equipment back in the cars, but it didn't matter as the tunnel was full of filthy water all the way up to about 10-20cm from the top/ceiling.
(The dimensions quoted above are guesstimates, there was no way to safely measure them.)
And what was worse, we also discovered that the air in the lower part of the shaft (and most probably the tunnel) did not support a flame, ie: low or no oxygen and/or saturated with nitrogen and CO2. We lowered a ball of petrol soaked flaming rags attached to the end of a length of cable down into the shaft and it burnt very bright till it reached about half way down the shaft when it suddenly went out as if it was dipped in water. We repeated that process a few times with similar results which told us what we needed, it's impossible to enter safely without proper gear.
Seeing as nobody wanted to die that night, we took some pix, re-sealed the shaft. and got out of there with some sort of satisfaction.
Cop cars randomly drove past a couple of times during the night, and although a few of us felt the instinct to turn and run, we stayed in character and they just ignored us and simply drove by. The biggest scare was when a council truck full of rowdy workers slowly drove towards us with it's yellow flashing roof lights on. We started rehearsing our cover story and prepared to bail just in-case, but we realised that they were just placing 24 hour clearway event parking signs over the normal ones so we just ignore them and they drove past and ignored us.
And this was in 2002-3, I'd doubt it would be so easy now.
Sure, we didn't access the tunnel, but at least we (and now you) wont die not knowing.
This is a pic of the shaft in the Victoria Barracks grounds showing the width of the shaft...
This pic is off the net, and that is not the shaft we opened.
Blakjak of the Sydney branch of the Cave Clan.
Umm... with oxygen gear though yeh ?vicdrains wrote:I have some entry points to it, it is a hand dug tunnel built by convicts I believe.Homerone wrote:I've been reading up on busbys bore and I am very curious as to how to do this drain and where are good access points, does anyone know what it's like now and has anyone done it recently, really keen to do it!
You can enter by various manhole shafts and yeah it doesn't have breathable air.
I'm going to give it a go when i come down so I'll let you know how it goes!
Nah mate he's holding his breath haha, but I hope he would use oxy gear?Titan wrote:Umm... with oxygen gear though yeh ?vicdrains wrote:I have some entry points to it, it is a hand dug tunnel built by convicts I believe.Homerone wrote:I've been reading up on busbys bore and I am very curious as to how to do this drain and where are good access points, does anyone know what it's like now and has anyone done it recently, really keen to do it!
You can enter by various manhole shafts and yeah it doesn't have breathable air.
I'm going to give it a go when i come down so I'll let you know how it goes!
twat
Remember you telling me about this awesome how yous got away with it hahahblakjak wrote:What Decimalz, Maggot, Spades and Siolo said is true.
The manhole is in the middle of traffic lane (adjacent to the footpath) on a major 6 lane road. As Silo explained, to accomplish our task we had to block off that traffic lane with witch's hats, warning signs, and with 2 guys using reflective flashing wands to slow cars down (this road was busy even at 2am on a Weds morning back in 2002-3!).
The manhole cover was fully wedged in due to cars, buses and trucks pounding it for years, opening it was probably the most difficult and time consuming part of the mission as we needed hydraulic lifting equipment (a truck jack) and steel levers and a sledghammer. The 1 inch thick steel bar we used as a lever was fully bent before it suddenly sprang the 60kg manhole cover more than a foot up into the air before it crashed back down into the manhole collar where it got semi wedged again at an angle.
Fortunately, nobody was standing near it as we were expecting something like that to happen with all that force and tension being applied. Anyway, we got the cover back out and then peered into the abyss with awaiting amazement.
Part of the crew that night many years ago (Siolo is behind the camera)...
This pic reminds of nasty game hunters in Africa who are posing with the prey they just murdered (the only thing we killed was time and our curiosity).
To our horror we saw that about 1m down into the shaft where the many layers of tar laid over the last 70 years meets the sandstone bedrock (not bare earth) out of which that shaft and tunnel was carved out of by convicts in the 1820-30s, the circular shaft widens out to 5-6 feet in diameter!
There is no ladder, step-irons, or other way to climb down and back up (these are inspection shafts used during construction and air shafts, not access shafts).
We did have some climbing equipment back in the cars, but it didn't matter as the tunnel was full of filthy water all the way up to about 10-20cm from the top/ceiling.
(The dimensions quoted above are guesstimates, there was no way to safely measure them.)
And what was worse, we also discovered that the air in the lower part of the shaft (and most probably the tunnel) did not support a flame, ie: low or no oxygen and/or saturated with nitrogen and CO2. We lowered a ball of petrol soaked flaming rags attached to the end of a length of cable down into the shaft and it burnt very bright till it reached about half way down the shaft when it suddenly went out as if it was dipped in water. We repeated that process a few times with similar results which told us what we needed, it's impossible to enter safely without proper gear.
Seeing as nobody wanted to die that night, we took some pix, re-sealed the shaft. and got out of there with some sort of satisfaction.
Cop cars randomly drove past a couple of times during the night, and although a few of us felt the instinct to turn and run, we stayed in character and they just ignored us and simply drove by. The biggest scare was when a council truck full of rowdy workers slowly drove towards us with it's yellow flashing roof lights on. We started rehearsing our cover story and prepared to bail just in-case, but we realised that they were just placing 24 hour clearway event parking signs over the normal ones so we just ignore them and they drove past and ignored us.
And this was in 2002-3, I'd doubt it would be so easy now.
Sure, we didn't access the tunnel, but at least we (and now you) wont die not knowing.
This is a pic of the shaft in the Victoria Barracks grounds showing the width of the shaft...
This pic is off the net, and that is not the shaft we opened.
vre, long time no see give us a call some time soon havent been draining in a while!
"No Urbex... No fun"
Syd Based
Syd Based
As I said to Nuggs, that pic was taken over12 years ago, and none of the people in that pic except me explore any more, let alone come into UEGA.blakjak wrote:Pic Removed - Admin
And the only face not covered over was mine.
So who bitched, and why?
Blakjak of the Sydney branch of the Cave Clan.