Sand Furnace

The sand furnace was used to dry the sand that was used in sand boxes on engines, being used to give the engines a better grip on the rail in bad conditions. Some news programmes will try and tell you that slipping (leaves on the line) is a new problem, it has become worse with less trees being cut back, but sand has been used for over 100 years to overcome this and other problems!

Along side the sand furnace can be seen a rack, this has a selection of fire irons hanging from it, these are used to clean and dispose the fire in the engines.

All photographs ©Mark Baldry