Hi all, I’m assembling this Walthers Sand Tower kit for use in an early-1990’s engine terminal. My question is, Do today’s Class 1 railroads still use open-air wooden bins to store their sand? Perhaps they have a 100 ton 2-bay hopper parked on a spur with the sand already dried and ready for use? Or do they have it brought in by truck ( [xx(] ) ?
Inquiring minds want to know…
I would think a “LARGE” service facility would have an outside open air storage bin with a drying/pump house along with another bin for storing the dried sand. While the smaller yards would have a siding with one or two covered hoppers full of dried sand hooked to piping taking the product to a small pumping station with a flexible discharge hose. All air powered of course.
Ken,
What you have is a ‘bin’ to store ‘green’ sand, which is shoveled into a ‘dryer’ in that little brick house next to it. Once it is dry, it is pumped via air to either of those sand towers. The one with the ‘spider’ legs was popular in the 50’s - note the side by side sand delivery hoses for either side of a F unit.
Sand arrives in covered hoppers, but usually is ‘green’ and need to be dried. Very dry/very fine sand is used in the locomotive, and wet sand can clog up the sander nozzles. I have seen small terminals and shortline get bagged dry sand and they either lift the bags up to the sand filler or have a small portable compressor to lift the sand(sort of looks like a ‘chipper’ with a hose on one end).
As you guessed, some lines have dried sand shipped in covered hoppers as well, and the air equipment is hooked up to the car. One of the problems with this is that the sand gets damp, even in a covered hopper. Many times there is a portable dryer that the sand is run through before it is lifted to the sand tower.
Many years ago, I worked for the CB&Q. They picked up loaded covered hoppers of sand from Bay City Sand of Bay City, WI. Just about any week day the local would have 3-4 company service sand cars parked there for loading/pickup. Even in the 1980’s I remember seeing BN cars. I suspect BNSF is loading cars there now.
Jim
Thanks Johnny & Jim
I’m hoping I can portray my terminal as a modern down-sized larger facility, one that still uses the ‘spider’ sand tower and a turntable but no longer has a roundhouse.
Sure, I don’t see why you can’t. If the older equipment was in good operating condition, the RR’s used it. If repairs were necessary and didn’t cost an arm and a leg, they repaired it. It was cheaper than building new stuff.
Yeah, what they all said! I lived for 17 years in Rhinelander, WI, and visited the engine facilities of several roads in the are. Most of them still had some steam facilities in service, such as turntables and sand towers, but I never saw a green sand bin and sandhouse (for drying) in any of my travels. In Rhinelander, the Soo Line used special Company Service tank cars, shoved up onto the elevated coal delivery track of the (“Bachman,” I swear!) coaling station they’d torn down when they went 100% Diesel. The sand came in by CS covered hoppers, already dried and screened, and was pumped up into the sand bins–though unfortunately, my non-existent memory didn’t retain what it/they looked like. Keep in mind that engine servicing supplies leave a mess, not always cleaned to pristine: i.e. Diesel fuel soaked into the ground or into the concrete platforms and sand scattered around the unloading spot.