It’s in the nature of things that everything new will one day be old – and this is especially striking when it comes to some of the world’s largest machines and vehicles.

Jumbo Jet Restaurant

The second Boeing 747 ever built and the first one ever flown commercially eventually became a noodle restaurant. Known as the Juan T Trippe restaurant, it was named after the legendary airline entrepreneur and founder of Pan American World Airways.

The airline collapsed in 1991, after which the corpse of the jumbo jet was sent to the “airplane graveyard” in California to await its fate. After baking in the US sun for two decades, a noodle restaurant owner paid for the plane to be dismantled and shipped across to Seoul in South Korea, in a total of 62 enormous containers. Unfortunately for the ambitious restaurateur, the Boeing restaurant suffered the same fate as Pan American Airways, and went belly-up in 2010.

SS American Star

Now abandoned on the beautiful Canary Island coastline in Fuerteventura, the SS American Star was once considered by many to be the most beautiful liner ever to have sailed under an American flag. Designed by William Francis Gibbs, the ship was completed in 1940 and could comfortably accommodate 1,800 passengers.

During the Second World War, the SS American Star was renamed USS West Point and used for troop transport duties. It sailed under many code names during this time, including the supposedly Greek SS Australis. Many years later, in 1980, the ship was due to be sold for scrap. However, the scrappers defaulted on their payment and instead, the ship was purchased and plans were developed to convert it into a five-star hotel ship off the coast of Phuket in Thailand, once again to be called the American Star. Tragically,  stormy weather broke the tow lines en route to Thailand and the ship floated to the Canary Islands, where it remains today, being battered by the waves.

The Sea Princess

Lying stranded on the shores of Goa, India, the Sea Princess is something of a blight on the otherwise idyllic coastline of this tourist hotspot. It was washed up in a fierce storm, and local authorities simple could not afford to have it removed, and so it remains there to this day.

It’s possible, although not recommended, to wade out to the ship at low tide. A large hole has been cut into the side of it to allow the tide and sand to flow through it to stop it from being dislodged and drifting into nearby shipping lanes.

Abandoned Super Collider

Nicknamed the “Desertron”, the Superconducting Super Collider, or SSC, was set to be the world’s largest and most energetic particle accelerator, surpassing the abilities even of the Large Hadron Collider that recently discovered the Higgs Boson in Lucerne, Switzerland. Construction of the machine began in 1991, in Waxahachie, Texas.

Due to budgeting mistakes from the outset, the project, which was meant to cost a cool $4.4 billion, ended up costing closer to $12 billion. In 1993, Bill Clinton reluctantly signed the bill for its closure, stating that he feared it would compromise the United States’ leadership in basic science.

Abandoned Oil Rig

Off the coast of Belfast, Northern Ireland, this oil rig may be more of a structure than a machine, but it certainly is massive. The piece of land that it lies off of is famous for the being the shipyard that built the RMS Olympic, as well as her sister ship, the Titanic.

The area itself, thanks to its prestigious heritage, is being revived as the “Titanic Quarter”. As for the oil rig, we have yet to see what comes next – although one proposal is to turn it into a floating sea hotel.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

Post provided by the engineers at www.hvdh-sa.co.za  who themselves have a professional passion for all types of machines and tools.