sand drag

plural sand drags

1. UKrail transportA pile of sand or earth at the end of a siding or bay platform, intended to stop trains that overrun or pass through trap points set for a siding.

   Should any driver attempt to pass the Belmont starter signals at danger, he would find his train in the sand drag.

   1978, Alan A. Jackson, London's Local Railways, David & Charles, page 154

   2 more examples

   Sand drags are usually laid in as an extension of trap sidings or of lines from catch-points. The rails are boxed in for some distance on either side, and the box is filled with sand, or, preferably, coarse gravel, the intention being, as the name implies, that the sand will act as a drag, and help bring the runaway train or vehicles to rest before they derail and cause serious damage.

   1941 August, “The Why and the Wherefore: Sand Drags”, in Railway Magazine, page 382

   The brakes were applied immediately, but the engine ran into a sand drag at approximately 20 m.p.h., plunged down the embankment, and turned over on its side at the bottom.

   1952 October, “Notes and News: Derailment near Shawford”, in Railway Magazine, page 710