sand drag

English

Sand drag at Tower Hill underground station, London

sand drag (plural sand drags)

(rail transport, UK) a 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.
- 1941 August, “The Why and the Wherefore: Sand Drags”, in Railway Magazine, page 382:
  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.
- 1978, Alan A. Jackson, London's Local Railways, David & Charles, page 154:
  Should any driver attempt to pass the Belmont starter signals at danger, he would find his train in the sand drag.