Rail Traction Sand
Locomotives drop sand onto the rail ahead of the wheel to stop it slipping. The sand has to flow through the sander every time, which means dry and sized.
Why rail uses sand
Steel wheel on steel rail has very little grip. Under heavy traction — starting a loaded train, climbing a grade — and under hard braking, the wheel can slip or lock. Locomotives carry sand in hoppers and sanding systems meter it onto the railhead just ahead of the driving wheels, where it is crushed under the wheel and restores adhesion. On wet, greasy or leaf-contaminated rail it is the difference between moving and not.
What matters in the sand
It has to flow. Sand is delivered from the hopper through pipes and nozzles by gravity and air, and any moisture makes it bridge and block — a blocked sander is a locomotive with no adhesion when it needs it most. So the sand must be dry. It must be sized to a fraction that feeds reliably and crushes under the wheel rather than bouncing off; rail operators specify the grading. And it must be clean and hard: quartz grains, free of silt, clay and organic material that would cake in the hopper.
The MRP product
Kiln-Dried Sand — washed quartz sand, dried in our kiln and screened to a close fraction between 0.3 mm and 6 mm — is produced to the operator's sanding specification and supplied dry. The washing removes the fines that would cake; the drying and screening give a free-flowing sand at the size the sander is set up for.
Supply
Bulk supply to rail operators, rolling-stock maintainers and their contractors. Tell us the grading specified for your sanders, the tonnage and the delivery point.