A locomotive’s sand is just as important as coal and water. Ice or rain or even the dampness in a tunnel can make slippery tracks. So the railroads keep supplies of fine dry sand to fill the domes. Sam always checks to see if he has enough sand when the tender takes on coal.
The huge coal towers in big freight yards can fill several tenders at once. Often, while the loading goes on, ashes from the locomotive’s firebox get cleaned out at the same time. There is a dump pit under the tracks, with little cars that run on their own rails. After a little car is filled with ashes, it can be pushed away and unloaded at the ash heap.
When Sam pulls into the next big freight yard, his part of the run is finished. After a while he will board another engine and take another freight train back to his home station. He has a regular schedule for work. That doesn’t seem strange these days, but Sam’s grandfather would have thought it was something miraculous.
In the old days, grandfather never knew what time he’d have to leave for work. Sometimes, when he was just ready to blow out the kerosene lamp and go to bed, there would be a knock at the door. On the dark porch stood a boy, still panting from a bicycle ride up the street. He was the railroad call boy, and he’d come to say that an engineer was needed right away. Grandfather had been assigned to the job. So he pulled on his clothes and went off, no matter how sleepy he was.
