Texas Utilities

Company History: TXU operates two railroads in the Lone Star State. Both were built in the 1970s to move lignite (a.k.a. brown coal) from mines to nearby power stations. Both were built as electric railroads with a fleet of seven GE E25B electric locomotives split between the two operations.

The Monticello plant is located near Mt. Pleasant in northeast Texas. They connect with Kansas City Southern just south of the plant and with Union Pacific north of the plant at Winfield. At first, they moved only lignite from a mine just south of Winfield. Then flux stone for the scrubbers and then ash was added to the traffic mix. In 1996, they began to receive Powder River Basin coal from their connection at Winfield (Southern Pacific at the time.) Then KCS began delivering lignite from mines near Sulphur Springs, Texas. While unit trains from SP (later UP) ran straight through to the power plant, KCS lignite trains were interchanged to TXU and hauled to the plant by TXU locomotives. Later TXU acquired a pair of U23B diesels to work the line followed by at least one SD50.

The other TXU operation can be found at Martin Lake in East Texas (not far from Longview.) They connect with BNSF just south of Tatum and connect the power station at Martin Lake with a lignite loader at Oak Hill and mines in Beckville. In 1999, they began receiving Powder River coal unit trains from BNSF. They also receive the occasional stone train for the scrubbers. The stone trains originate in Cliffstone, Texas. The trains from BNSF run through with BNSF power. In 1999, the E25B’s received some help in the form of a trio of E60C’s from NdeM’s abandoned electrification project.

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