Large Scale Central

Sanding house - Sanding tower - since when?

General Discussion
#1

saw that well done sanding house in the modeling forum.

first reaction: i need one too!

second reaction: do i need one?

for a railroad in the 1870ies?

in the movie “the General” Buster is seen to put sand by the handfull under the wheels. - just for the drama? or didn’t they have sanding during the civil war?

lots of questions arose:

since when sanding is used?

since when sanddomes are built?

since when sanding houses exist?

since when sanding towers exist?

anybody got any answers to one or some of these questions?

#2

Well, pretty much from the beginning, I imagine. Sand must have been used on ice long before iron wheels met iron rails…

Above the steam dome is inside the cab and a sanding line is visible from the forward dome…

Buster probably did it for the drama or the dome was empty after the long runs…

#3

Sand needed to be dried and kept dry so it wouldn’t clog the sanding lines. The tower provided gravity feed. 2 reasons why a tower.

There is a pic in the latest Classic Trains of a man loading sand with a bucket. A plank is set on the engine and the bucket walked over…

Does everybody need a tower?

#4

thank you, John.

sanding for pirate locos? walking the plank…

Classic trains - is that something online?

where to did they put the plank? to the sideboard of the loco, or upon the boiler?

that is one cute little loco in your pic.

as spindly, as it is (apart from smokestack and headlight) it could well be pre-civil war.

so, sanding facilities are a must for my layout. i suppose.

#5

Korm Kormsen said:
that is one cute little loco in your pic.

as spindly, as it is (apart from smokestack and headlight) it could well be pre-civil war.

Korm,

It is Pre-civil war and it used to ride the rails about 300 ft behind my home. over 1/2 of the CVRR mainline still exists to this day. She now resides at the B&O museum.

http://www.borail.org/cvrr-pioneer.aspx

BTW …Same builder (Seth Wilmarth) as the bell crank loco I modeled (Utility). Lots of similarities to the Pioneer and Utility. Pioneer had a sister loco named the Jenny Lind which was they CVRR pay train (pay loco)

#6

thank you, Rooster.

so sanding domes were existent at least ten years before that war.

and i copied the pics from your link - against the remote possibility, that i might start to build a model of that loco.

wheels salvaged from a big hauler, motor from a car mirror, the rest from junk…

#7

Korm, I know that in the 1870s they had sanding domes so I assume sanding towers would have been around. But that got me thinking on my prototype I have seen just about every type of building labeled including the privy, but have never seen where they had a sanding tower. So I assume while they were around since forever I am not sure it meant that they had to have them. On a low budget line I suppose they could have filled it with a shovel and bucket.

#8

Korm, Classic Trains, is a magazine to which, I subscribe. Kalmbach the publisher, can be found on the net.

From a platform about a foot higher than the running boards (low on boiler) beside the loco, a plank rests on the handrail (10:30 on the smoke box front) that runs along the upper boiler. Standing up some on toes, the top of the dome is mid thigh … Judging by the sand on the ground, the bucket gets dropped occasionally.

I chose the Pioneer for it’s age and it was at the top of the page…

#9

thanks to you both,

so an open, but roofed box, with a plank, a shovel and some buckets should be enough for a hillbilly sanding station.

#10

Korm Kormsen said:

thanks to you both,

so an open, but roofed box, with a plank, a shovel and some buckets should be enough for a hillbilly sanding station.

If you add the ol’ pot belly stove to set the buckets on to dry… you’d also have a perfect cover for a sweet little moonshine still, the revenooers will never caitch on! If you mind whar ya set the jars so the Feds don’t see 'em.

#11

Korm,

If you google images of the Pioneer you will find that later in it’s life the sanding dome on top was removed and sanding “boxes” were put on each fender or (splasher). However when they restored her they put it back to original.

#12

Them’s some BIG flanges on the rear truck/pilot…

The 2 things that look like upside down palm trees just behind the cowcatcher are brushes to clear the railhead?

#13

**Greg Elmassian said:**The 2 things that look like upside down palm trees just behind the cowcatcher are brushes to clear the railhead?

looks to me like oldfashioned straw brooms. (well used up)

and TWO sandboxes! above the wheels.

#14

Greg Elmassian said:

Them’s some BIG flanges on the rear truck/pilot…

The 2 things that look like upside down palm trees just behind the cowcatcher are brushes to clear the railhead?

Sorry Korm if I’m jacking up your thread. Even though I don’t like steam ( I like history) this is a loco I have studied and know well. Actually most of the early CVRR locos and anything about the CVRR .

#15

Rooster, a thread without drift is like an ocean without waves…

and i, having drifted so many threads myself, should be able to stand a little drift. specially, when we drift to something so interesting.

go on, drifter!