03-13-2009, 08:16 AM
Depending on the era you want, the description you gave is good. You describe a steam or early transition era installation, with "wet" sand delivered in open hoppers or gondolas, off-loaded into a storage facility (covered bin), then dried (usually in an attached closed building) on site and piped to a small elevated bin using the engine's own air pressure. From there, the sand is gravity fed to the sand dome on the engine. Road engines generally had one sand dome feeding sand in front of the drivers. Switchers sometimes had two domes, or at least piping to both the front and rear of the drivers.
Sometimes these facilities were integrated with a coaling tower, sometimes a stand alone.
More modern facilities have minimal equipment, as the sand is delivered dry in covered hoppers, and piped directly to the engine from the hopper spotted on an adjacent track.
Andrew
Sometimes these facilities were integrated with a coaling tower, sometimes a stand alone.
More modern facilities have minimal equipment, as the sand is delivered dry in covered hoppers, and piped directly to the engine from the hopper spotted on an adjacent track.
Andrew