Are steam trains still used?

The last meter-gauge and narrow-gauge steam locomotives in regular service were retired in 2000. After being withdrawn from service, most steam locomotives were scrapped, though some have been preserved in various railway museums. The only steam locomotives remaining in regular service are on India's heritage lines.



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By the end of the 1950s the steam era was over and increasingly powerful diesels ruled the rails.

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True, there is little or no chance of steam trains replacing electric and diesel trains on our modern rail network. But if steam remains history, it is an unusually active and extensive variety of history. Steam has made an impressive comeback under the guise of heritage, to become an enormous national asset.

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Black locomotives became common beginning in 1880, after coal burning engines made grime commonplace. Black was chosen because black locomotives didn't show all the dirt and grime that covered the locomotive during normal use.

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Does Russia still use steam locomotives? No. The last one was manufactured in 1953. They've been replaced by other types of locomotives with efficiency rates higher than 13%.

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With increased electrification steam was phased out by 1977, and new trains such as the Trans-Europ Express were introduced. After the TGV was introduced in France, DB looked at how to provide West Germany with a high-speed train. The solution was the Intercity-Express (ICE), and new high-speed lines were built.

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Air pollution Steam trains were indeed faster than wagons, and steam ships faster and stronger than sailing ships. But the smoke they sent into the air polluted the air. Then diesel and electric trains came, and they were somewhat cleaner.

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Steam engines CAN be more powerful than diesels. Steam engine have been built with 7000–8000 hp. They tend to be very heavy and very complicated with multiple driving axle articulated trucks.

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With regular maintenance, British steam locomotives typically lasted for approximately 30 years of intensive use, before major components would need to be replaced or overhauled. For a steam locomotive built in 1960, the economic lifespan would have led to it being withdrawn in the 1990s.

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Steam engines and turbines operate on the Rankine cycle which has a maximum Carnot efficiency of 63% for practical engines, with steam turbine power plants able to achieve efficiency in the mid 40% range.

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Diesel locomotives were generally more powerful than the steam locomotives that came before them. They were also less polluting, and they did not have to stop to pick up water. Diesel-powered trains are used worldwide, especially on less busy routes where it would be too expensive to electrify the lines.

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Puffing Billy is the world's oldest surviving steam locomotive, constructed in 1813–1814 by colliery viewer William Hedley, enginewright Jonathan Forster and blacksmith Timothy Hackworth for Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne, in the United Kingdom.

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Similarly, in France, about 45% of the railway network is not electrified and there are more than 1,200 diesel trains. In India, which has the world's third largest railway network, 37% of the trains are pulled by diesel locomotives, Vaishnaw had told Rajya Sabha in December 2021. That's roughly 5,000 trains a day.

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