Trams and trains use sand when the rails are slippery, so they can gain extra traction.  Rails get slippery because of leaves, and in Australia, eucalyptus leaves dropping on them.

Wouldn’t think that slippery rails and wheels could cause all sorts of problems to rail networks, but they do.  So they use sand, or a sand mixture called sandite, to gain traction.

The photo right was taken in the cab of locomotive FQ04 as part of ATSB accident investigation 2006010.

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