Diesel Loco sand box

[FCIN]

This discussion of where the sand boxes were located on locomotives makes me think back to my days on the Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad in the 80s when the train crew was required to sand the engines and not the shop personnel. We'd spot the engine(s) next to the sand house, which as a low concrete block building with nothing in it but the sand drier and a pile of sand. Then one of us would perch ourselves on top of the S-2/S-4 hood while the other two took turns filling and hauling a coal bucket full of sand up a flight of steps and hand it to the man on the engine, who would pour the sand into the filler hatch.

And the sand? Well it wasn't the fine silica sand that railroads use; it was good old Kentucky River sand purchased from a nearby dealer and anything but fine. And just to make things interesting, now and then one of the shop people would shove a cigarette package or other such item into the sand box to stop it up! Fun, fun, fun! What an outfit!