Luminant factory tracks
The factory railways of the Texan energy company Luminant , formerly TXU Corporation, supply three power plants with coal. Between 1976 and 2011, two lines were operated using overhead lines and electric locomotives.
history
In 1974 the Texas Utility Corporation completed the first block of the Monticello power station . The second block followed in 1975 and the third block in 1978. The coal supply came from the company's own brown coal mines in the area. The company built a railway line to the South and North Winfield pits to the north of the power plant and to the south to the Pittsburg-Sulfur Springs railway line of the Katy (today KCS ). From there there is a connection to the Thermo mine to the west. The route has a total length of 30 kilometers.
In the years 1977 to 1979 the three blocks of the Martin Lake power station, 85 kilometers to the south, were completed. A railway line was also built at this power plant to supply brown coal. This extends approximately 13 miles east to the Oak Hill Pit and east to the Beckville and Tatum Pits. In Martin Lake Junction, the railway line of today's BNSF Railway is crossed without crossing and a connecting curve is created.
The railway lines received an overhead line electrification with 25 kV and 60 Hz single-phase alternating current. The power supply came from the supplied power plants. For the operation, the Company acquired seven electric locomotives of the type E25B of General Electric . The thyristor- controlled locomotives had an output of 5,400 kW. Three locomotives (No. 2304-2306) were used on the Monticello line and four (No. 3301-3304) on the Martin Lake line. The first five locomotives were delivered in May 1976 and the remaining two in December 1978 and February 1979.
In addition, two GE U 18 B (No. 101, 102) GE U 23 B (No. 103) were in use on the Monticello route . Among other things, they were used to remove the ashes, as these trains left the electrified routes. The U 18 B proved to be too weak and were exchanged for used U23 B. Over time, the company acquired additional used U28 B. Four locomotives, two Lehigh Valley Railroad locomotives and two Missouri Pacific Railroad locomotives , were in Monticello and five, the three originally acquired and two Lehigh Valley locomotives, were at Martin Lake in action. In 1979 and 1981, TXU also acquired two GE B23-7s for the Martin Lake route .
As a replacement for the E25B, the company acquired three GE E60C locomotives in almost new condition from Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (NdeM) in April 1999 .
Due to exhaust gas regulations in Texas, the power plant operator was forced to reduce the use of lignite. That is why, from 1996, coal from the Powder River Basin began to be mixed in at the Monticello power plant. The coal trains from this area were driven as block trains directly diesel-powered to the power station. From the year 2000 hard coal was added to the Martin Lake power station. In 2011, a new 6.4 km long connecting line was built there to improve the passage of coal trains.
The introduction of block trains also had an impact on the operating regime. The trains from the surrounding pits regularly consisted of around 25 cars that were driven in push- pull operation. This was necessary because the overhead line did not reach under the loading towers. The coal trains from the Powder River Basin are typically six times longer. The unloading of these long trains with the simultaneous continuous delivery of domestic coal had to be coordinated. In addition, the operating facilities had to be adapted to the longer trains.
In the course of time, electric train operation therefore turned out to be increasingly uneconomical. In particular, the procurement of materials for the E60C became more and more difficult and the maintenance of the overhead line more and more expensive. Luminant therefore decided in early 2011 to discontinue electric train operations on the Martins Lake line. The company replaced the electric locomotives with used EMD SD50s . At the end of the 2010s, electric train operations on the Monticello line had already been discontinued.
Another 20 km long railway line was built in 2009 to supply the Oak Grove power station with coal from the Kosse mine from 2010 onwards. The operation takes place with diesel locomotives. Two EMD SD70ACe locomotives have been in service on this route since autumn 2013 . The locomotives are given the numbers 5308 and 5309 with the AAR holder code "TUGX".
literature
- William D. Middleton : When the steam railroads electrified . 2nd revised edition. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN 2001, ISBN 978-0-253-33979-9 , pp. 407, 409, 426, 454 (American English).
- Jeffrey A. Harwell: From Electric to Diesel . In: Trains . Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha February 2012, p. 50 f .
- Mike Harbor: New spur, more electrics on tap for Texas utility . In: Trains . Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha July 1999, p. 16 ff .
- Louis A. Marre: The Contemporary Diesel Spotter's Guide . 2nd Edition. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 1995, ISBN 0-89024-257-7 .
Web links
- The southwest railfan: TXU Martin Lake Line
- The southwest railfan: TXU Monticello Line
- Locomotive photos