A Colorado-based bulk abrasives distributor unloaded abrasive sand from rail cars with an aging slider-bed conveyor. Their problem: sand worked between the belt and the bed and ground the system down like a giant belt sander — constant wear, downtime, and delays. On a good day it moved about 1,000 lbs/min.

The site made it harder. The conveyor sits in a recessed pit and lifts sand to bulk bag fillers on a raised dock, with just 27–28″ of overhead clearance. Any sand that rolled back down the incline wasn’t just lost — it was more wear.

The VP of Operations reached out to Redline with a list of must-haves:

• Zero material fall-back on the incline
• Clean transition into the bag filler inlets
• Abrasion-resistant components throughout
• 1,500–2,000 lbs/min throughput

Redline engineered two custom BWZ-12-28-30 Beltwall Conveyors for the pit-to-bag-filler run. The BWZ-Series uses corrugated sidewall belting with vertical cleats — high throughput up steep inclines, without the spillage of a conventional belt.

Three details answered the VP Operations’ brief directly:

• Stainless cleat-to-sidewall sealing plates lock material onto the belt up the incline — zero roll-back.
• Rubberized head box and discharge chute, built for abrasive sand, with a custom transition from the 30″ belt to the round bag filler inlets.
• VFD control with a speed dial, so the team throttles to feed rate and starts/stops in step with each bag fill.

Engineered to fit the pit: hold-down wheels at the knuckle, a 24″ take-up for belt tensioning, polyurethane guide rolls, and a support structure custom-fit to the existing geometry.

Redline installed the first unit in January 2026. The first test emptied a 3,000 lb super sack in under a minute — about 3,000 lbs/min. That’s triple the old system, and well past the 1,500–2,000 target.

The spillage problem is gone. The stainless sealing plates keep material on the belt, so the wear loop that was eating the old conveyor never starts. Maintenance dropped to routine tracking and greasing.

Even with the natural start-and-stop rhythm of bulk-bag filling, they’re now unloading two full rail cars before noon – work that previously took an entire shift, “and even longer sometimes.” The spillage-driven wear loop is gone. Maintenance demand on the carry-side has dropped to routine tracking and grease interval service.

By the Numbers Comparison:

• ~3,000 lbs/min vs. ~1,000 lbs/min on the old slider-bed system
• Two full rail cars by noon (200 tons) vs. taking until 3:00 PM (or longer) on the old system
• Virtually zero material spillage vs. significant spillage and material loss on the previous system – sealed by stainless cleat-to-sidewall plates