Locomotives increase their traction by applying sand to the rails. The sand is carried in tanks on the loco and directed to the wheels through a series of tubes. In order for the system to work (not clod) the sand must be dry. Thus the sand house, a building where sand is dried before being pumped into the sand tower for loading on the trains.

I saw this online:

and really wanted one.

Unfortunately, they seem to rarely come up for sale, and when they do, they’re quite pricey. So a little Sintra, glue, and brick-pattern styrene went together

You can see my homemade magnetic building setup here. A sheet of galvanized metal and some Harbor Freight welding magnets

The cobbled front “pad” is made from a Piko structure base I had laying around. The railing is brass, the door and chimney are leftovers from kits
I wound up with this:

I think it needs to be moved perpendicular to the track (like in the Pola picture above) but I’ll need to move some plants around to make that happen. I also need to repaint the sanding tower base, but so far, so good.