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Kenilworth
Steam and diesel locomotives both utilize dry sand to provide additional traction on steep grades or slippery rail. Air jets inject the sand beneath the locomotive’s driving wheels. Oftentimes, the engineer can use a selector in the locomotive cab to choose which side of the wheels receives sand. This allows sand to be applied to the proper rail depending on the direction of travel.
Railroads maintained stores of locomotive sand for use in their engines. Because sand is prone to clumping when wet, and moisture within the metal pipes of the sanding system accelerates rust, it was essential that these sand supplies be kept dry.
The Rahway Valley Railroad maintained a sand house and bin at MP 1.78. The sand house contained a dryer that kept the sand in the adjacent bin dry. The original sand house and bin, constructed in 1919, were repurposed from a former pump house. The frame structure measured 8 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet and was similar in style and appearance to a Pennsylvania Railroad Type W26 building. It was located between the main line and siding at Kenilworth.
The original sand bin and sand house, November 1933. (Jeff Jargosch collection)
The original sand house, August 1937. (Charles A. Schrade photo)
The original sand house not long after the bin was removed. (William S. Young photo)
The original sand house and bin were retired in October 1950. A new masonry sand house, with an accompanying bin, was constructed at Kenilworth in February 1951 on the opposite side of the tracks from the original structure. The new building measured 9 feet by 10 feet 10 inches by 7 feet 9 inches. It featured a six-inch-thick concrete slab floor, eight-inch concrete block walls, and a single-pitch wood roof supported by 2 x 6 rafters spaced 16 inches on center. The roof consisted of one-inch boards covered with single-ply Paroid roofing.
The sand house was equipped with one wood door measuring 6 feet by 2 feet 6 inches and two solid wood ventilating windows, each measuring 18 by 20 inches. Ventilation was provided by a 20-gauge metal roof vent stack, 16 inches in diameter, fitted with a conical cap.
Concrete and masonry work was performed by William Picone. Millburn Decorators completed the painting. Meister & Nanz handled the carpentry. Westfield Sheet Metal Works of Kenilworth fabricated the sand dryer vent stack, and Jaeger Coal & Supply Co. furnished the lumber, nails, roofing, and masonry materials.
The sand bin eventually disappeared, but the sand house itself remained standing for some time after the railroad ceased operations in April 1992.
The second sand house and bin, 12/1954. (Richard J. King collection)
The sand house at Kenilworth, 9/3/1984. (John Humes photo)
The sand house at Kenilworth, 9/3/1984. (John Humes photo)
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