For a smaller operation, trucking in dry sand might make sense. You might go online and see what you can find: a sand tower with no way to dry sand nearby.
Ed
Ed,
Thanks for the response. It would be nice if I had more of an imagination, eh? I'm thinking clean/dry trucked in, though I look forward to additional advice.
Railroad sand comes in two states: clean and dry. And not.
The former is usually handled in pipes with compressed air, especially when it's getting moved vertically into a high-mount container.
The latter is usually handled with shovels. Or variations thereon.
Yes, there is often/frequently a building where the latter is turned into the former. And, with that, there is also usually storage for the "before" sand.
However, nothing says clean dry sand can't be trucked in. And blown up-top.
I went ahead and built the sand tower. My first scratch built project and it was a real challenge, but the drawing made it so much easier. I just have to add the fill pipe and I am done. I have a quick question. How does the sand get into the tower? Is there a drying building? Does a truck just drive up with dry sand and it's pumped into the tower? Thanks for the drawing. I couldn't have built the tower without it.