I grew up in the shadow of the exact same style of coaling tower in the 50's and 60's in Portsmouth, VA. The tower was at the Norfolk Portsmouth Belt Line RR Yard immediately next to our neighborhood. The NPBLRR replace their steam engines with EMD SW1200 diesels in the early 50's and began using the tower for sand. It was neat to see the sand unloaded into a pit and the sand buck run up the rails on the side of the tower to place the sand in the tower. I actually rode on a yard job when I was around 12 that move a group of engines under the tower for sanding. The tower was demolished in the 90's when the NPBL ceased operations in Portsmouth.
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