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Chalk marks / sand boxcars.

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Subject: Chalk marks / sand boxcars.
From: "Karl L Rethwisch" <karlre@r...>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 07:38:08 -0600
Leo, you handle the question of why marking cars was discontinued and I'll 
cover a little bit about sand cars.

Ken, the sand was in "bulk" form. The method of getting the sand into the 
engines was the same basic method employed in getting coal into a handfired 
locomotive - - - a shovel. I have assisted in this task at both Aurora RH and 
Rock Falls engine house and can state, with certainty, that I do NOT miss that 
piece of railroad history.

I the winter, if the sand was not COMPLETELY dry, there would be "lumps" of 
frozen sand to deal with. In the summer we could have put Jenny Craig and 
Weight Watchers out of business. Most sand houses had stoves in them to 
maintain the sand in a dry state so it would flow to the rail when the Engineer 
needed it. In some small terminals ingenious mechanical people devised 
ingenious mechanical devises to help reduce the amount of physical labor 
required to transfer the sand to the house and, eventually, to the locomotive. 
Compressed air worked wonders in this labor saving effort. A locomotive would 
supply the air and clever plumbing apparatuses would convey the sand to the 
house or directly to the engine sand boxes. Sand house to engine conveyances 
were also "custom designed" by the local mechanical forces.

Also "custom designed" by certain mechanical forces were ingenious methods of 
"metering" the quantity of sand the Engineer could drop. Some of these 
"devises" bore a remarkable resemblance to rocks and shop towels that had been 
introduced into the sand box and, after time, found themselves in the traps 
through which the sand must pass to reach the rail. One such "metering method" 
so infuriated one particular Engineer (Jr. Pence) that he would demand that I 
"fish" the offending object from the bottom of the box so he could run the 
sanders ALL DAY in an attempt to empty the boxes and, in turn, infuriate the 
Mechanical man (Moose Jaw). It worked!!! 

Sanding 9153, the Depot Job engine, was a memorable event too. The little SW1's 
had conventional sand box fillers on the cab but the front sand box was that 
"tool box lookin' thing" on the front deck just below the cooling fan grille. 
Sanding the front box was a "5 gallon bucket-at-a-time" thing since the sand 
tower hoses didn't reach. Ahhh, the "good ol' days".

In time, most larger facilities were equipped with commercial sanding machinery 
which greatly simplified the task.

Karl


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