# Opinions on what this tower is?



## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

All,

I bought a lot of G scale stuff off fleabay to get one bit that I really wanted. Included in the sale was this item:










Anyone have any idea what this is? Water tower? Oil drilling rig? UFO landing station?


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Dunno for sure...

Sand tower...grip on rails...

Dirk


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

SD90WLMT said:


> Dunno for sure...
> 
> Sand tower...grip on rails...
> 
> Dirk


Looks like you're right. This is a Pola dual track sand tower... Here's the page on onlytrains 

Anyone want to guess why it's so tall? It's almost 24" tall.


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

That's probably close to a scale height. They'd need the sand to flow down by gravity, so it probably calls for more than 45 degrees from the horizontal to ensure free flow.

Looks like it needs some type of conveyor or bucket elevator to get the sand up in the first place, though.


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

A fluidizing system could "blow" sand up top....

Dirk


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

It's a Air Raid siren tower form the 40's Now they use them for Tornado warnings. 

JJ


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## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

It is Pola's sand tower.

http://www.railman.cz/navody/piskovna_en.html

Andrew


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## Larry S. (Dec 22, 2013)

It is a sand tower. Sanders on locomotives use a special sand (not beach type sand) that is very 'loose' meaning that it will not compact into a solid mass in the sand dome. When it arrives at the sand house, it is called "green sand" because it may contain moisture. It is heated on a special stove to dry (sand house was a VERY popular place on a cold day!) then blown up into the loading hopper by compressed air. Gravity is used to feed it to the locomotive sand box.


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Thanks all. I really wish I had the sand house that goes with this tower. The pictures I found online show a domed, sliding-roof structure that's really neat. Here's the image of the HO scale version:










Maybe I'll try and bash one when I get some of my other buildings built.


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

That looks like a straightforward building project, and with the open roof a chance to model an interior as well.

I guess the odd shape on top is a way for the compressed air to exit. Couldn't figure it out at first, but makes sense in light of Larry post.


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## Larry S. (Dec 22, 2013)

The box on top is a vent to let out the air that brought the sand up and keep water out. The sand house was anything from a covered shed with the stove in it or up to a brick building with its own air compressor. The green sand box could be a big pile on the ground to brick walls with a roof on it. Today, most sand is carried in two bay covered hoppers that have special outlets on the bottom that the sand is drawn directly from.

The stove in the sand house looked like a pot belly stove with a huge funnel on top of it. Green sand was shoveled in the top and let dry by the stove. There was an outlet door near the bottom of the funnel that let the dry sand out.


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