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Sand is a great industry to model. It sounds silly but the stuff does occur everywhere. Plus, because it's usually so heavy it doesn't get carried far so it can remain quite a small industry (compared to coal, phosphates and metals). On my old patch we had both open cast/quarry and mines for a very specific sand used in metal casting. The stuff got everywhere around where the cars stood but didn't blow far. The quarry still working had a lead track with about a 4% grade with a real tight curve across a road right at the foot. Just to add interest the grade remained parallel to and right up against the main track and dived between that and a factory building. At the bottom it emerged between the building and the maintrack bridge over the road. There was a hurricane fence type gate at the bottom which swung out of a little of the road. Rules for working said that cars were towed in and pushed out. Moves weren't allowed until they could shove straight out onto the maintrack in one go going up and until the road traffic was definitley stopped going down. I heard of cars sitting in the dirt around the yards down there but never coming off on the curve. If they had come off they'd have landed in another building. Because of the grade and curve cars were worked in and out in small cuts... two or three at a time I think... Although empties weighed less they went in in small numbers because of the curve... i.e. so that the loco wouldn't get accelerated down the grade by the weight behind. The lead was worked by BR shunters (08 or 09) because they had to come out onto the main. There were signs around the bottom prohibiting them from working further and others prohibiting the quarry locos working up the grade. Great thing about sand pits is that you almost always get critters... usually several in various stages of disrepair. I imagine that the sand doesn't do them any good. Oh yes, the quarry lines helpfully went "off scene" through a very tight tunnel under an adjacent rail line. Hope this gives some useful ideas. Have fun :-) Thanks for the original post :-) :-)
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