This is an interesting photo story; these are the kind of adventures (follow the right of way and see where it leads) I don't get to do much these days...

Nice shots; I, too, am a big fan of ghost railroading.

FWIW, the Eagle Mountain branch was simply a construction spur. The plant itself has always been a gas plant (now owned by Luminant Power) and, thus, had no need for a rail line like the Monticello coal-fired operation near Mount Pleasant, TX. The spur has been mothballed since 2005.

Most (but not all) of the former TXU (nee Texas Utilities) plants had construction spurs regardless of fuel type as the company needed some way to haul in all those big components needed for such projects. Comanche Peak has a neat one that came off the ex-AT&SF at Tolar, TX, and winded its way south and east.

Of course, it also works in reverse; while the Big Brown plant near Fairfield didn't have one when it was built, it received one later when TXU began blending the locally mined lignite with Powder River Basin coal. You may have seen the branch from the BNSF as it goes under I-45. Most people have no idea what an engineering feat that was, as the highway itself wasn't disturbed as the line was bored underneath it!