I recently ran across a product that simulates clean, white sand rather well. It is BEHR Non-Skid Floor Finish Additive and is available from Home Depot. It is a very fine white silica product that I feel nicely simulates the white sand spilled around my locomotive sanding facility. It comes in a 3 oz. package and is found with the porch and floor paints.
Joe
Good to know. I'll keep in mind for my sandin facility.
I've used a lot of this in modeling some mesas and buttes in my desert scene. It does simulate white sand very well.........well, because it is white sand. That's what silica is.
I'm glad it is working for you, but I don't know how much you might have paid. You can by this by the 20 pound bag for a few dollars at a building center. It is called sandblasting sand or grit, and is superbly clean white sand/silica because that is the only kind of thing you want blasting through your sand blasting gear.
Don't confuse it in the building center with the similar bags of sandbox sand that they sell for putting in the kiddies boxes. This latter material isn't the same grade or cleanliness.
(You may not need very much for small scenes I guess, but I found one big bag from Home Depot was what I wanted for $9. I needed to pour it by the dipperful over structures I had coated with glue. It was easy that way, and still cheap.)
But with this stuff, you would want to make sure it is stuck down well on the layout so that it can't migrate near a loco. For small piles at my sanding area I was thinking of sculpting some of those foam pyramids they sell and then coating them with glue and the silica. Then spraying with more glue. I would give them repeated vacuuming as well.
Cisco:
Thanks for the info. I doubt that I'll ever need the large size bag but it's good to know that it is there if I do. So far I've only used about a tablespoonful of material for my sanding facility.
You can also get smaller amounts at the HOBBY LOBBY , or other stores like that I a smaller bag for a beach scene I was doing .