jpexg@mit-hermes.ARPA (John Purbrick) (08/18/85)
> On our local PCC streetcars, the sand pipes used to freeze up in the > winter. I remember once when I was in high school, having to get out > of my seat so the motorman could scoop some sand from the top of sand > box (under the seat) to take outside and spread on the rails. (prescript: I'm a former resident of Mount Lebanon--trolleys on Main St! My brother lives in Media, Pa., which also has them.) I've seen a picture of a (steam-hauled) train on the Simla (or Darjeeling?) narrow-gauge line in the Himalayan foothills showing a man on the buffer beam actually sprinkling sand onto the rails by hand as the train moved. Incidentally, loco service facilities usually include a sand-drying facility involving a furnace, so that sand can be loaded dry into the locos' sandboxes or towers.